The Jallianwala Bagh Redesign is INSENSITIVE to the MARTYRS feat. KBS Sidhu

The Wire Talks

The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre is a story every India knows. On April 13, 1919, a crowd that had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar to protest against the arrest of Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlu and Dr. Satya Pal, was fired upon by soldiers led by Brigadier General REH Dyer. As the crowd tried to exit from this one solitary path open that day, hundreds of people were killed and the estimated now are said to be anywhere between 400 to 1000 people who were killed in the massacre. Over 1200 people were injured. The Bagh, since the, has become a memorial. a very simple one, to replicate what happened on that particular day in 1919, with bullet holes very much visible, and the narrow exit still looks the same, giving visitors a chilling idea of what it must have been like to be trapped in. Now, the central government in its wisdom has redesigned the path with phases of all kinds of Punjab scenes, including Baisakhi celebrations. This has drawn widespread condemnation.

On this episode, host Sidharth Bhatia is joined by KBS Sidhu, a retired IAS officer who served for 37 years, and is among those opposed to this redesign of the Jallianwala Bagh. KBS Sidhu commented on Twitter about the matter, "I'm literally heartbroken!"

Having served as Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar from 1992 to 1996, this has not been an easy thing for Mr. Sidhu to accept. Tune in for an eye-opening and important conversation on this episode of The Wire Talks.

Follow KBS Sidhu on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kbssidhu1961

Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallah

bombaywallah and https://instagram.com/bombaywallah

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