Udupi: Jallianwala Bagh Sculpture Ignites Patriotism on Independence Eve
By Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network—Udupi (RD/CN)

Udupi, Aug 14: Sculptors Venky Palimaru, Srinath Manipal, and Ravi Hirebettu, from Manipal Sand Art, created a sculpture depicting the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on the eve of the country’s Independence Day. 

The art work was exhibited at KPSK Higher Primary School, Panjinadka, near Mulky.

Jallianwala Bagh is associated with the blackest day in the history of the Indian freedom movement. This place was a popular ground for holding meetings and protests during the freedom movement in India. On August 13, 1919, a large crowd gathered to protest the arrest of two Indian freedom leaders.

The crowd was unarmed and included women and children. The British General, Edward Dyer, ordered his soldiers to fire on the unarmed and helpless crowd. Continuous firing went on targeting the crowd and the people were trapped inside Jallianwala Bagh which had only one narrow gate.

Local witnesses claimed that nearly 2,000 people were killed in the massacre, the bloodiest in India’s freedom struggle. 

This tragic incident had left a deep scar on freedom fighters who plunged into the freedom movement with renewed vigour and the promise of liberating their motherland from the autocratic rule of foreigners.