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3. Write a newspaper report on:

a) The Jallianwala Bagh massacre


b) The Simon Commission

Answer: Jalianwala: 13th April, 1919, The News of India: It was a celebration for Baisakhi. Many village folks had gathered at the local garden and were enjoying the fair. Little did they know that for many of them it would be their last fair of life. General Dyer entered the scene. Taking the benefit of prohibitory orders he ordered firing on innocent people. There was all around panic. It was a stampede like situation. To make matters worse General Dyer blocked all the exit points of the garden. Hundreds of people were killed. In the kaliyug of foreign rule it was one of the darkest days in the history of India.

Answer: Simon Commission: Tackling India without Indian

The world is suffering from economic depression but the depression seems to be taking its toll on British rulers minds as well. No matter how tough it will be they would love to rule India sitting miles away in London. They want to view and analyse India from English sunglasses. The fact that there is not a single Indian present in the commission points to this. The so called advanced society thinks that Indians are not evolved enough to think and decide about their own affairs. But when the Simon Commission comes it will be surprised to know what lies in store for it. Nationalists are well prepared this time to give it the well deserved boot.

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(a) The Jallianwala Bagh massacre—facts—on 13 April,1919, General Dyer blocked the exit points from the enclosed ground of Jallianwala Bagh where a large crowd had gathered—some to protest against the British government’s repressive measures, others to attend the annual Baisakhi fair. Dyer’s objective was to “produce a moral effect” and terrorise satyagrahis. Hundreds of innocent people including women and children were killed on this day in the indiscriminate firing by British soldiers. This led to large scale strikes, clashes with police and attacks on government buildings by the enraged Indian people.

(Base your newspaper report on these facts)

(b) The Simon Commission—facts—it arrived in India in 1928 and faced protest slogans of “Go Back Simon”. It was because this body was to suggest constitutional changes in Indian governance, but it did not have any Indian members. The Congress and the Muslim League jointly demonstrated against it. Lord Irwin announced a vague “dominion status” for India to quell the movement, leading to a Round Table Conference in October, 1929.

(Base your newspaper report on these facts)

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