Dhenkanal: It is often said that the British lost its empire on the day General Reginald Dyer ordered his regiment of soldiers to fire on unarmed crowd of over 15,000 at an enclosure called Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab. 101 years ago on 13 April 1919, the Jalliwanwala Bagh massacre had taken place and to document various aspects of the ‘black day’ in Indian history, Indian Institute Of Mass Communication (IIMC), Dhenkanal, has come up with a monograph with a collection of articles, trivia and interesting information.
The e-monograph was e-released through a Facebook Live session by Dr Mrinal Chatterjee, Professor and Head of IIMC, Dhenkanal at 4:30 pm on Monday, April 13, 2020. Releasing the monograph, “This is an important incident in the history of India and Indian independence movement. The horrific firing on the innocent people of this country by the British force has got many dimensions and in this monograph we wanted to document them.”
Despite the lockdown, the contributors, editors and the designers worked remotely to publish this volume. “I am happy that we could come up with this collection despite many hardships during this lockdown over Covid19,” said Dr Mrinal Chatterjee.
There are essays on Odisha connection to this kind of ghastly incident. Dr Jyoti Prakash Mohapatra, Assistant Professor, IIMC Dhenkanal, who is also one of the contributors to the monograph said, “Beside the Jalliwanwala Bagh massacre, there were similar firing on the innocent people here in Odisha as well by the British force. They were mostly on the tribal population in Amco-Simco, Papadahandi and Irom. Those incidents have also been recorded through the articles in this monograph.”
The monograph is a compilation of selected articles and essays, some of which have already been published in various publications across the country and some are original to this volume. Besides, senior journalist Mahendra Ved, academician Prof. Surya Narayana Mishra also wrote on what happened before and after the massacre. There is an engrossing article written by Shoma A. Chatterjee on power genocides across the history. Author and academician Subir Ghosh and senior journalist Snehashis Sur discussed Rabindranath Tagore’s renunciation of Knighthood.
Prof. Pritish Acarya and Dr. Jyoti Prakash Mahapatra wrote on “Police firing causing death of protesters in Odiha.” It also contains one interesting article on Udham Singh, who killed Michel O’Dwyer, who as the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab endorsed General Dyer’s ordering of his troops to fire at Indian civilians.
In this e-monograph one also can find interesting information related to Jallianwala Bagh — a list of books, films, pictures of postage stamps, press clippings, some photographs and paintings.
The monograph has been edited by the Regional Director of IIMC-Dhenkanal, Professor Mrinal Chatterjee. Faculty and the other members of the staff of the institute paid a tribute to those killied in Jallianwala Bagh on this day in 1919 during the e-release of the monograph. The e-copy of the monograph is available on request.
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