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On 13 April 1919, British troops shot hundreds of peaceful protesters dead in India. This film shines new light on a deeply controversial moment in Britain's history, and examines its troubling legacy.
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00:02I'm Satnam Sanghera, a escritor e jornalista.
00:06For the first time in my life, I'm about to fire a rifle.
00:15Remarkably easy.
00:18Guns just like this were fired by British Empire troops
00:23in a public park in Amritsar, India, on 13 April 1919.
00:30Hundreds of people were killed.
00:42The Amritsar massacre was the moment Britain lost the largest empire in history.
00:48A hundred years later, I'll meet descendants of the colonial officials involved.
00:54The empire, I think, is very controversial to a lot of people.
00:58However, they did do a lot of good.
01:01I'll go to Amritsar, where the massacre doesn't feel like history, but a live issue.
01:06The regime at that time was completely racist.
01:11Britain is about to leap into an unknown future.
01:14So it seems appropriate, as we redefine our place in the world,
01:19to look back at a time when we ruled a quarter of it.
01:23I could have taught myself about all these things, and I haven't.
01:27And why is that?
01:28And is it partly because my very British grammar school, university education,
01:34has slightly colonised my mind and made me averse to going into these areas?
01:54The film Gandhi is about the downfall of the British Empire in India.
01:59I first saw it as a young British Sikh and was struck by this portrayal
02:04of a massacre in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar.
02:11This particular scene is the moral heart of the film.
02:14It's the source of all the moral outrage in the entire film, really.
02:30I remember being really affected by it,
02:33but then not really going on to research it in any way, you know?
02:39I didn't make the connection between it being in the Sikh holy city and my story.
02:45Odd.
02:47I've definitely heard of the Amritsar massacre,
02:50but at no point during formal education was I taught anything about empire.
02:56And now empire is in the air, you know?
02:59It regularly makes headlines.
03:01What people think about Churchill, what people think about colonialism, slavery.
03:06Personally, I just don't know how to answer those questions.
03:09I find myself confused, and there's no more symbolic event
03:15than the Amritsar massacre within empire.
03:18We need to understand this event to understand empire
03:20and also to understand modern Britain.
03:23I think it's about history and memory,
03:26and it's also about now.
03:32Before I head off for India,
03:34I want to look into how this story is viewed at home.
03:38Britain's official report from the time cites 379 killed,
03:43but our government has never formally apologised.
03:47It still follows the line set a century ago by Winston Churchill.
03:51He claimed the massacre wasn't typical of how Britain ruled its empire,
03:57that it was the fault of one officer,
04:00the man who gave the order to open fire.
04:03General Reginald Dyer,
04:05who'd spent nearly all his adult life in the Indian army,
04:08was relieved of his command.
04:11But Dyer is not an obvious imperial bad guy.
04:14He was born in India and spoke fluent Hindi and Urdu.
04:19So I'm about to meet his great-granddaughter, Caroline.
04:24You know, if you, like, say,
04:27a relative has done a really, really bad thing,
04:30do you still have pictures up in the family?
04:32And my uncle killed another one of my uncles, you know, in the Punjab.
04:36And we've still got pictures up of him.
04:39You know, he's still my uncle.
04:41So on that level, I understand that family remains family.
04:46I'm intrigued to know where Caroline stands.
04:50Nice to meet you. Caroline is.
04:51Lovely to meet you.
04:52Nice to meet you.
04:53Great. Come along in.
04:54And I'm here to say, yes, I am proud
04:57to be with General Dyer's great-granddaughter.
05:00There are a lot of people who are very proud to be called Dyer.
05:03And what were you told he was like as a man?
05:05He was an extremely honest, obedient soldier.
05:11Opinion was divided, wasn't it?
05:13Even Winston Churchill described...
05:14Oh, he was so slimy, for goodness sake.
05:17He was...
05:17General Dyer was made a scapegoat for him.
05:20Caroline is eager to show me
05:22that not everyone shared Churchill's point of view.
05:25These actually were in my loo in London.
05:28Oh.
05:28Except for this, which I think is wonderful.
05:32So these were, I'm guessing, British...
05:36And Indian.
05:37..people in India...
05:37Yes.
05:38..who supported his actions.
05:40Looking at the names, it's mainly British people.
05:43Yes, I think mainly British.
05:44Quite a lot of violets.
05:46Yes.
05:47Violets.
05:48Not many things.
05:49It's a very popular name.
05:51I think you'd agree that at least 370 people died.
05:56The whole thing was...
05:57Including some children.
05:58Including some babies.
06:00Well, that's what you think.
06:02Well, I'm just going...
06:03It's not what I think, it's what I've read in various books.
06:05What's the...
06:06Which book?
06:07OK, even discount the babies.
06:10Doesn't that fill you with remorse?
06:12And it felt...
06:13And General Dyer was devastated.
06:15It had to be done.
06:17They were being charged up by 25,000 people.
06:20How do you stop people?
06:21What do you do?
06:22Say, do stop?
06:24Of course you don't.
06:26Would you agree that he might have been a symptom of his age,
06:30but he didn't see Indians as equals?
06:32I'm afraid he's not here to...
06:35To...
06:35To answer that one.
06:37I...
06:37No idea.
06:38But I know he had a lot of friends who were Indians.
06:40And he highly respected them.
06:43We all adore the Indians.
06:45And I'm so delighted to meet you.
06:49I think I'm probably more British than Indian, but I am Indian.
06:54I hope that you will account in your mind both sides.
06:59It's quite important that you do.
07:02Because the time was different to what it is now.
07:06Well, thank you for your time, Caroline.
07:07I really appreciate it.
07:08It's lovely to have met you.
07:10Thank you.
07:15Yeah.
07:16I think I just need a moment to decompress.
07:35Someone who strongly defended General Dyer's actions 100 years ago
07:39was the assistant commissioner in Amritsar, Ronald Beckett.
07:45Hi, William.
07:46Satnam.
07:47Nice to meet you.
07:48Nice to meet you.
07:49His grandchildren, William and Sabrina, have agreed to talk to me.
07:54Hiya.
07:54Hi, I'm Satnam.
07:55Hi.
07:56Hi.
07:56So that's Ronald Beckett?
07:58Yeah.
08:00I thought it might actually be you, you know?
08:02Mm-hmm.
08:03William and Sabrina tarm with the story of the massacre,
08:06as it's been handed down in their family.
08:09I think you should avoid the word massacre because it wasn't.
08:13And our people disagree with that.
08:14So how do you vote it?
08:16Er, riot.
08:18Of course you have great sympathy for the people who died,
08:21but then why were they there?
08:23I don't feel sympathy for the people who went to make violent demonstrations.
08:29And if you had been there, you would have been up there with Dyer, cheering.
08:34I think so.
08:35Most undoubtedly, they were all...
08:38No, I think there was probably a fair chance
08:39that I would have been on my way to the Golden Temple for the Sarki
08:44and might have got caught up and been shot dead.
08:47No, you wouldn't have been caught up.
08:51That's the myth, that it wasn't a being caught up thing.
08:56You went there deliberately.
09:01Do you feel that British Empire has given a bad rep?
09:05Yes, I do.
09:07I mean, of course, there were some awful things happened,
09:09but awful things happened without the British.
09:13I'm interested that you are in the process of making such a film
09:20because it seems quite brave.
09:22The force of propaganda is against you.
09:29My conversations with the descendants of colonials
09:32have given me a lot to think about.
09:35I've been told the death toll has been exaggerated
09:38and that children were not killed.
09:41that General Dyer acted in self-defence.
09:46In fact, we shouldn't use the term massacre at all,
09:49but call it a riot.
09:53I want to look into these claims.
09:55With that in mind, I'm off to India.
09:59The last time I went there, I got really sick.
10:01I got a brain parasite and nearly died.
10:04Hence, all my hand sanitizers.
10:07Sometimes people don't wash their hands after they cook the food.
10:09That's the thing.
10:10Anyway, I'm going to try not to be a hypochondriac.
10:12I'm not even telling my mum I'm going, actually,
10:14because she'll just worry.
10:15I've told her I'm going to Las Vegas.
10:20Amritsar, in northern India,
10:22is now an important city
10:24in an emerging superpower.
10:27For Sikhs,
10:28it's also the site
10:29of our most important place of worship,
10:32the Golden Temple.
10:41There's so many turbans, man.
10:43Sikhs are such a tiny community in Britain,
10:45and actually,
10:45they're a tiny community in modern India.
10:48But here, they're everywhere.
10:49The pilot was a Sikh.
10:51So it totally slightly...
10:53It feels really exciting,
10:54but it slightly freaks me out as well.
10:57God, this is proper old India, isn't it?
11:07I have a personal connection
11:08to this extraordinary city.
11:11My parents came to Britain
11:12from villages just outside Amritsar,
11:15in the rural Punjab.
11:21I never used to look forward
11:22going to the Punjab
11:23because it was chaotic and noisy,
11:25and there was no Nintendos there.
11:27But now,
11:28it's different coming here as an hour.
11:29You can really sense the history,
11:31and I...
11:33The thing that I'm most struck by
11:34is that, actually,
11:36if my parents had stayed here,
11:40this is where...
11:40the kind of place
11:41I would have grown up.
11:45So these are my people, I guess.
11:50In 1919,
11:51the Punjab was a critical part
11:53of the British Empire,
11:56producing as much as a third
11:58of India's wheat
11:58and supplying 60%
12:00of the British Army's Indian soldiers.
12:03But the Punjab census of the time
12:05described the people of Amritsar
12:07as low status,
12:09living in narrow lanes.
12:15I want to visit
12:16the actual site
12:17where the killing was done
12:18100 years ago.
12:20Near the Golden Temple,
12:22before I walked down
12:23the same alleyway
12:24that Dyer came along
12:25with his riflemen.
12:28It opens onto
12:29an enclosed park,
12:31the Jalianwala Bagh.
12:34Gosh,
12:35this is not how I imagined it.
12:38The Bagh
12:39is green and pleasant.
12:42There's some topiary
12:43commemorating the massacre
12:44and white squares mark
12:46where the bullets from 1919
12:49have scarred brick walls.
12:51But all this
12:53is mostly ignored
12:54by happy families.
12:56In a way,
12:57it feels quite apt
12:59that people
13:00use this park for life.
13:02You know,
13:02it's quite a positive
13:03way of using
13:05a tragic site
13:06rather than
13:07it being a place of mourning.
13:09On the 13th of April 1919,
13:12about 20,000
13:13were in the Bagh,
13:14where there was
13:15an illegal protest
13:15against the British regime.
13:18Just after 5pm,
13:20General Dyer
13:21entered with 50 riflemen.
13:23So they were lined up there
13:24and they opened fire.
13:26And there was nowhere to hide.
13:31Historian Kim Wagner
13:32is Danish,
13:33lives in London
13:34and is often in Amritsar
13:36digging up the past.
13:38He probably knows more
13:39about the massacre
13:40than anyone alive.
13:42Some of the British officers
13:43who were there
13:43described there were people
13:44within 8 or 10 yards
13:46when Dyer and the troops
13:47first entered.
13:48So it was basically
13:49point-blank range.
13:52And there's been
13:53so much controversy
13:54about the number of people
13:55who've been killed.
13:56You've looked at the numbers
13:58very hard and closely.
13:59What's your conclusion?
14:01We will never know for sure
14:02exactly how many people
14:03were killed.
14:05The British,
14:05they settled on
14:07the number of 379,
14:08which were firmly confirmed.
14:10that was almost certainly
14:12an underestimate.
14:15And I would estimate
14:16something like
14:17five, six hundred people
14:19were killed
14:20and perhaps three times
14:21that were wounded.
14:26Kim has also found evidence
14:28that not all those shot
14:30were protesting.
14:32He's given me testimonies
14:34made to the Indian National Congress
14:35shortly after the massacre.
14:38Some are from people
14:40who were just enjoying
14:41a day out in the park
14:42with their family.
14:45The details of it
14:46are incredible.
14:47This is one bit
14:48where he says
14:48some people had their
14:50heads cut open,
14:52others had eyes shot out
14:53and nose, chest, arms
14:56or legs shattered.
14:58And you can't help
14:59but be really moved
15:00by the children
15:01caught up in the crowd.
15:02and there's one witness
15:04who says
15:04close by to where
15:05I was lying
15:06there was a young boy
15:07aged about 12 years old
15:09lying dead
15:10with a child
15:11of three years old
15:12in his arms
15:14also dead.
15:22I'm shocked
15:23to discover
15:23that among
15:24the confirmed dead
15:25were 15 children.
15:28One of them
15:29just six months old.
15:31the death toll
15:32has not been exaggerated.
15:34If anything
15:35it was worse
15:36than I thought.
15:38I'm determined
15:39to find out
15:40why they were killed.
15:44I'm in Amritsar
15:46where I've been told
15:47as many as 500 Indians
15:49were killed
15:50by British Empire troops
15:51a hundred years ago.
15:53It was a turning point
15:54in the history
15:55of our empire
15:56and in Amritsar
15:57it feels like a wound
15:59that still hasn't healed.
16:02I think every Sikh temple
16:03in the world
16:04is exactly the same
16:05but I haven't told my mum
16:06I'm in India
16:07so when she finds out
16:09I think the one
16:09mitigating factor
16:10is if I tell her
16:12I've been in a Sikh temple
16:13and she might feel
16:14a bit better about it.
16:23one explanation of the Amritsar massacre
16:25is that it was self-defense.
16:29The argument goes
16:30that the riflemen
16:31opened fire
16:32to protect themselves
16:33because the Indians
16:35had lethal weapons
16:36called latis.
16:39I reckon
16:39a way to look
16:40into this argument
16:41is to get myself
16:43a lati.
16:45Uncle Jim
16:45I am lati latonia
16:47at the Haggai shop.
16:49So I'm asking
16:49where I can find one.
16:52Lati
16:54lati
16:54lati
16:54lati
16:55lati
16:55lati
16:55lati
17:06lati
17:09lati
17:10I get there
17:10in the end
17:11and this I'm told
17:12is the place
17:14for latis.
17:15Ah ah lati
17:17lati
17:17lati
17:18lati
17:18lati
17:18lati
17:18lati
17:18lati
17:22lati
17:23So sometimes
17:24they were used
17:26as weapons
17:27but generally
17:28they were used
17:28for farm work.
17:29lati
17:30lati
17:30lati
17:30lati
17:30lati
17:31lati
17:31lati
17:31lati
17:32lati
17:32lati
17:34lati
17:36lati
17:38lati
17:38They cost
17:39250 rupees
17:40and I did
17:41no hackling
17:41which is going
17:42to shame
17:42my mother.
17:43I think I should
17:44go back
17:44and get them
17:44for less
17:45otherwise she's
17:46going to
17:46beat me up
17:46with the lati.
17:48These are
17:48pretty much
17:50handsome
17:51ceremonial sticks
17:52and very much
17:54not weapons
17:54in my opinion.
17:57For me
17:58it's obvious
17:59latis
18:00are no match
18:01for rifles
18:01so justifying
18:03the massacre
18:04on the basis
18:04of self-defence
18:05doesn't stand up.
18:08But I still want to look into the claim that it wasn't a massacre, it was a riot.
18:16So I'm meeting Manish Khanna.
18:22Manish's grandfather, Lala, believed British rule was unjust.
18:27So on 13 April 1919, he went to the Jalimwala Bagh to protest.
18:33According to Manish, Lala was shot six times.
18:37First, second, third, fourth, and fifth, sixth.
18:42Did your grandfather go there to have a fight?
18:46No, no, no, no. Just protest?
18:48No, no, just protest.
18:50And he didn't even give a warning.
18:53And he shot the order.
18:55One time?
18:56One time.
18:57And people started to fight their own knowledge.
19:00Naturally, people will save their own knowledge.
19:03Lala was on the wall and they hit the walls.
19:09Satna, you saw the signs behind the doors.
19:12Those are the doors that were slashed by the doors.
19:17The doors that were on the floor were falling down.
19:21Ele estava tentando.
19:23Ele estava tentando.
19:24Ele estava tentando.
19:26Ele estava tentando.
19:27Ele estava tentando.
19:27Ele estava tentando.
19:30Você sabe que você conhece hoje?
19:35Você é o seu sentimento?
19:36Eu estou rindo, Sathnam.
19:39Eu estou rindo.
19:40O que é o que é?
19:42O que é?
19:43O que é?
19:49O que é?
19:55Os pais.
19:57Os pais.
19:57Os pais.
20:03Manish's story is very moving,
20:05and it was confirmed by General Dyer
20:08in his testimony to the Hunter Committee,
20:10which was the official British inquest,
20:13made shortly after the killings.
20:16Dyer described
20:17what he saw in the Jalianwala Bagh
20:19as a meeting,
20:21that he opened fire within 30 seconds,
20:24which in my mind
20:25gave him no time
20:27to distinguish between protestors
20:29and bystanders.
20:32Other witnesses
20:33confirmed he directed fire
20:35towards people trying to escape.
20:40For me,
20:41there's no room for doubt.
20:43It was a massacre.
20:53It's late,
20:54and I'm in my hotel room,
20:55and I can't sleep
20:56because of a combination, I think,
20:58of jet lag
21:00and anger
21:02about what I learned today.
21:04I'm also left
21:05with this kind of curious
21:07or confusing sense
21:09that maybe,
21:10you know,
21:11I'm partly to blame
21:12for my lack of education.
21:13I could have taught myself
21:14about all these things,
21:16and I haven't.
21:17And why is that?
21:18And is it partly because
21:19my very British grammar school,
21:22university education
21:24has slightly colonized my mind
21:26and made me averse
21:28to going into these areas?
21:31Certainly, I think,
21:32my Indian immigrant background
21:33has instilled in me
21:35this sense of inferiority
21:39or this tendency
21:40to look down on India.
21:42You know, India,
21:42when I was growing up,
21:43was always something
21:44my relatives wanted to leave
21:46for England,
21:46and I saw coming here
21:49as a kind of punishment.
21:50I wonder whether
21:51I've slightly internalized that,
21:53and that's why I've,
21:55you know, gone along
21:56with a conventional
21:59British amnesia on empire.
22:01But I'm glad that I finally,
22:03at the age of 42,
22:05I'm getting educated
22:06and I just hope
22:08I have the courage
22:10to keep on looking
22:11the history in its eye,
22:12even if it means
22:14more or less sleep.
22:22What's bugging me is,
22:23if there was no riot,
22:25then why did Dyer react
22:27as he did?
22:31So I'm meeting historian Kim Wagner.
22:35Wow.
22:35Kim says he's cracked this mystery
22:37and has something
22:38he wants to show me.
22:41Right in the heart
22:43of Amritsar city
22:44is a Christian cemetery.
22:47So we have here
22:49Sergeant T.A. Rowlands
22:51of the Rifle Brigade,
22:53who died on the 10th of April,
22:541919, aged just 23.
22:56He was beaten to death
22:57on Regal Bridge
22:58near the train station.
23:01And the same for Robinson,
23:04who was a guard on the railway.
23:09There are five graves of Brits
23:11killed in riots
23:12on the 10th of April, 1919,
23:14three days before the massacre.
23:20India, in early 1919,
23:22was in turmoil.
23:25I wasn't taught this at school,
23:27but over 100,000 Indians
23:29had been killed or wounded
23:30fighting for Britain
23:31in the First World War.
23:34India also endured heavy taxation
23:36to help fund Britain's war effort.
23:38Instead of thanks and reward,
23:41Indians faced further restrictions
23:42on speech, writing and movement.
23:46Across the subcontinent,
23:48there were non-violent protests
23:50for reform.
23:53On the 10th of April, 1919,
23:55in Amritsar,
23:56the British misunderstood
23:58what was going on
23:59and panicked.
24:02When 20 demonstrators were shot,
24:05a peaceful protest
24:06turned into a lethally violent riot.
24:12In memory of Gilbert M. Thompson
24:14murdered during the riots
24:16on the 10th of April, 1919,
24:18aged 33 years.
24:20And that's really young, isn't it?
24:25Gosh.
24:27You know, the Europeans,
24:28some Europeans did die
24:30really horrible deaths.
24:31Yeah, absolutely.
24:32And that gets forgotten
24:33in the story
24:34of the Amritsar massacre, I guess.
24:38It was the main story
24:40from the British perspective
24:42for a very long time.
24:43That was, in a sense,
24:44the only story.
24:46The chaotic ferocity
24:48that led to these five deaths
24:49terrified Amritsar's colonial elite.
24:54Kim takes me
24:55to the bank
24:56where Thompson was killed.
25:00The bank manager, Thompson,
25:01he's on top of the roof
25:03and so people,
25:04they break into the bank
25:05and make their way upstairs.
25:07He shoots one of the attackers
25:08but is then overpowered
25:10and he's thrown out
25:11over the balcony
25:12down on the road.
25:13Broken furniture
25:14and papers pile on top of him
25:16and he's set on fire.
25:21General Dyer arrived in Amritsar
25:24the day after Thompson
25:25was burnt alive.
25:27The Brits were frightened.
25:29As they later testified
25:30to the hunter committee,
25:31they thought they were facing
25:33another mutiny,
25:34known in India
25:35as the First War of Independence.
25:38In the 1857 mutiny,
25:40Indians killed hundreds of Europeans,
25:42men, women and children.
25:46And for a while,
25:47Britain lost control
25:49of much of the subcontinent.
25:51This is what the Brits
25:53were fearing most.
25:54Absolutely.
25:55It replicates very closely
25:56the sort of nightmare scenario
25:58of 1857,
25:59of isolated Europeans
26:00being surrounded
26:01by angry Indian mobs.
26:05And this is also the downside
26:06of the empire.
26:07Famously,
26:08the British Empire was run
26:10by very few Brits
26:12and ruling over millions of Indians.
26:14And you see,
26:16when the bridge control collapses,
26:18as it does in 1857,
26:20as it does momentarily in 1919,
26:23everything comes apart
26:24and you have these
26:25extremely violent situations.
26:29Dyer and his 50 riflemen
26:30entered the Jalimwala Bagh
26:32three days after the riots.
26:35He told the government inquest
26:37he opened fire
26:38on the Indian crowd
26:39to give them a lesson.
26:41I was going to punish them.
26:44The point of which was,
26:45he said,
26:47to prevent anybody
26:48who thought they could manage
26:49to mutiny
26:50from mutinying.
26:54and,
26:55as I'm about to discover,
26:57Dyer's punishment of Indians
26:58was far from over.
27:04Amritsar's former town hall
27:06was built by the Brits
27:07in proud imperial style.
27:11But I've now discovered
27:13what lay behind the pride here.
27:16violence and death.
27:19But was the massacre
27:20an aberration
27:21in an otherwise fair
27:22and just empire?
27:26Or was this kind of violence
27:28built into the Raj
27:29in a way
27:30we've all managed to forget?
27:33In search of an answer,
27:34I'm heading into the narrow lanes
27:36of the old city.
27:41to a street called
27:44Koriyadiku.
27:47Uncle-ji,
27:49sasrikalji,
27:49Koriyadiku,
27:50next,
27:52next left.
27:53Thank you.
27:54Uncle-ji,
27:56Koriyadiku,
27:56thank you,
27:59thank you.
28:01Trouble is,
28:02there are no street signs
28:03in the old city.
28:04Uncle-ji,
28:14I find Koriyadiku,
28:17which reminds me
28:18of the India my parents
28:19told me about.
28:21In late April 1919,
28:24a week after the massacre,
28:26the British blocked off
28:27this street.
28:29A sergeant in the army unit
28:31manning the checkpoint
28:32took pictures of it.
28:35He even photographed locals
28:37being forced to crawl
28:38along the street.
28:40A collective punishment
28:42because a British woman
28:43had been attacked here.
28:47I've arranged to meet
28:48an Indian writer
28:49who knows all about
28:50the crawling order,
28:52Kishwa Desai.
28:53When I heard about
28:54this punishment,
28:55I had this idea,
28:56when I was thinking about
28:56this programme,
28:57I was thinking,
28:57you know what,
28:58I should have crawled
28:58down the street
28:59to see what it was like
29:01for an Indian person
29:02to crawl down 100 years ago.
29:03But even walking down it
29:05with my white trainers
29:06is something I think
29:07twice about.
29:09But 100 years ago,
29:10it would have been muddy.
29:11Not only muddy,
29:12it was filthy.
29:13And also,
29:14people were crawling
29:15at the end of a bayonet.
29:17It was just awful.
29:18awful.
29:19It was awful because these men
29:20were respectable people.
29:22And they were being
29:23made to crawl
29:24in the shit and dirt
29:25for no fault of theirs.
29:29What would you say
29:30to British people
29:32listening to you now,
29:34who still believe
29:36that the British Empire
29:38was good and fair and just?
29:41Well,
29:42like you said,
29:43I'd like them
29:44to come down here
29:44and try crawling
29:46down the street
29:46and I think they
29:47will get their answer.
29:48We don't have to say
29:49very much more
29:50after that.
29:52The crawling order
29:53was part of
29:54a systematic clampdown
29:56by the British authorities
29:57after the massacre.
30:00Indians had to salute
30:01every white person
30:02whose path they crossed.
30:04If not,
30:05they were in danger
30:06of arrest
30:07and torture.
30:10even public flogging.
30:12The British gave
30:14this brutal regime
30:15the whimsical term
30:16fancy punishments.
30:19And these fancy punishments
30:21was a way for army officers
30:23to send out
30:24their own forms of messages
30:27to the people of Punjab
30:28that they were not equal
30:29to the British.
30:31Is it just like
30:32an appendix to the story
30:33or does it say something
30:35fundamental
30:36about what happened?
30:37Oh, totally.
30:38I mean, you know,
30:38it says something
30:39as fundamental
30:40as that the regime
30:41at that time
30:42was completely racist
30:44and also extremely cruel
30:46in their attitude
30:47towards the Indians
30:48because this depended
30:51completely on the colour
30:52of your skin.
30:54This punishment
30:55did not apply
30:56to European men
30:57walking down the street.
30:58This applied
30:59only to Indians.
31:08on a doorstep
31:09in the crawling lane
31:10I read testimony
31:11from Indians punished here.
31:15They asked me
31:16to lie on my belly
31:18because they threatened me
31:19I did so.
31:21When I was going to rise
31:22they struck me
31:23with a butt end
31:24of their rifles.
31:27I crawled along.
31:29All the while
31:30the British soldiers
31:32kept laughing at me.
31:40It's hard to read this
31:42and not feel physically sick
31:44and actually
31:45it's making me think
31:46that I've been too wary
31:49about calling Empire racist
31:51in the past
31:52when it clearly
31:55at this time at least
31:56was an exercise
31:57in racial humiliation.
31:59And if I was here
32:00if my family
32:01were living around here
32:02they were at a serious risk
32:04of being flogged, tortured,
32:05arrested,
32:07humiliated in this way
32:08just because of the colour of their skin.
32:09and I felt so embarrassed
32:12that I've been so,
32:14you know,
32:16cautious about saying that.
32:20The fancy punishments
32:22in Amritsar in 1919
32:23were orchestrated
32:25by General Dyer,
32:26the officer
32:27who gave the order
32:28to open fire
32:29that led to the massacre.
32:32Dyer's base
32:33in Amritsar
32:33was the exclusive
32:35whites only
32:35European club
32:38where
32:38on the tennis courts
32:40he had a flogging post put up.
32:43Almost a stereotypical idea
32:45of Empire
32:45that
32:45a Brit
32:46would play tennis
32:47in the morning
32:48and then whip
32:48a native
32:49half to death
32:51in the afternoon.
32:52Now that's the way
32:53you kind of satirise Empire
32:55but it actually happened here.
32:58I'm here
32:59seeking an answer
33:00to a controversy
33:01that began
33:02right after the massacre.
33:05according to Winston Churchill,
33:07what Dyer did
33:08in Amritsar
33:10wasn't typical
33:11of how Britain ruled India.
33:14I put this
33:15to historian Kim Wagner.
33:17When I began this investigation
33:19I was aware
33:20of the famous Winston Churchill quote
33:22which described the events
33:23as a monstrous event.
33:25But the quote goes on
33:26and he also describes it
33:27as a singular event.
33:28Do you agree with that?
33:29No.
33:30I mean, and Churchill
33:31of old people knew better.
33:33What he's actually trying to do
33:34is rehabilitate
33:35the Empire
33:36and in a sense
33:38throw Dyer under the bus.
33:40So it becomes
33:41this rotten apple
33:43narrative.
33:44The entire imperial project
33:46the Raj
33:46was predicated
33:47on notions
33:48of racialized difference.
33:51Nothing that Dyer says
33:52in 1919,
33:53nothing that Dyer does
33:54in 1919
33:55hasn't already been done before.
33:57This was actually
33:58part and parcel
33:59of British rule in India
34:01and the result
34:02of this sort of
34:03structural racism
34:04and pervasive violence
34:05which is indisputable.
34:11Kim's argument
34:12that violence
34:13and racism
34:14were built into the Raj
34:15fits with what I've discovered.
34:20I now view the massacre
34:22in the context
34:23of the crawling order
34:24and public floggings.
34:26All the so-called
34:27fancy punishments.
34:29And I realized
34:30that the people
34:31who were killed
34:31at Jalinwalabarg
34:33died because of their skin color.
34:40I think the idea
34:41of British exceptionalism
34:43runs deep
34:43in our culture.
34:45You know,
34:45we were the good guys
34:46in World War I,
34:47World War II.
34:48I think what I've learned today
34:49is that we weren't
34:51always the good guys.
34:52What happened
34:53in the crawling lane
34:54was an act
34:54not only of racism
34:56but of racial humiliation
34:58and white supremacy.
35:01is morally obscene.
35:03And there's nothing wrong
35:05with saying that.
35:12In Amritsar,
35:13I've come to see the massacre
35:15as more than a key moment
35:17in the history of empire.
35:18It's become the prism
35:20through which I view
35:21the whole Raj
35:21and it still affects
35:23the relationship
35:23between Britain
35:24and India today.
35:27Thanks to Brexit,
35:28Britain is reconsidering
35:30its place in the world.
35:31So I'm going to talk
35:33about the empire
35:33and its legacy
35:35with historian
35:36Anshol Malhotra
35:37while eating
35:38some delicious food
35:39and drinking
35:40the best lassi in town.
35:42Hey.
35:43Hey.
35:44Hello.
35:45How's your day been?
35:47It's been good.
35:48Oh, wow.
35:49You know what?
35:50I don't think
35:52I've ever had a lassi before.
35:54What?
35:56We never had a lassi at home
35:57and I've never...
35:58It's never looked like appetising.
36:01Oh, really?
36:01Because it's yoghurt, right?
36:02Yeah.
36:04This is where
36:04I've become a proper Indian.
36:08You now think I'm pathetic, right?
36:10Not at all.
36:10Because I've never had a lassi.
36:11Not at all.
36:13Wow.
36:14That tastes amazing.
36:17Are you just saying that?
36:18No, generally
36:19it just tastes amazing.
36:20I thought it'd be...
36:21Anshol is an oral historian.
36:24She collects the memories of ordinary Indians.
36:27In particular,
36:28about life in the British Empire.
36:32In general,
36:34is British Empire seen as a terrible, terrible thing here?
36:38Or is it seen in a more nuanced light?
36:44There are versions to every story.
36:47And I think the perception will change depending on who you ask
36:53and what their family's experience has been.
36:56Are there people who think there are good things about empire?
36:59We're speaking in the English language.
37:02Of course.
37:03The English language.
37:04You know what I mean?
37:04That's the one thing that brings the nation of India together.
37:08I mean, if it weren't for English,
37:10then the North wouldn't be able to talk to the South.
37:14So that's...
37:15That's a thing.
37:22Are there any other positives?
37:25Of the large?
37:26Yeah.
37:29Struggling.
37:30What about democracy?
37:33Apart from...
37:34What about democracy?
37:36Apart from the, you know,
37:36three, four hundred years
37:37where the British allowed no democracy.
37:40Hmm.
37:41Some people might say,
37:42we left you with some democracy.
37:44Those are your words, not mine.
37:46Yeah.
37:47I mean, I guess it's quite controversial to say...
37:49Yes.
37:49The British left in India
37:52to say the British gave us this.
37:53You gave yourself most things yourself, right?
37:57I think we fought for a lot of things ourselves,
37:59and I think that we took it because it's our right.
38:03You know, it's anyone's basic human right to want to be free
38:07and live on your own terms, and I think that's what we did.
38:12Yeah.
38:18With my journey approaching its end,
38:20Anshol has given me lots to think about,
38:23and I head back to my hotel,
38:25considering the long and complicated relationship
38:27between Britain and India.
38:31So it's my last day in Amitsar,
38:34and because it's my last day,
38:36when my mum just rang,
38:37I told her I was in India,
38:39and I didn't get the wall of anxiety and worry
38:43that I was expecting.
38:45And I had relatives texting me within minutes
38:47telling me to bring stuff back for them.
38:51But I leave thinking that we've never really confronted what happened.
38:57Hundreds of years of pain.
38:59We don't want to believe we come from such pain.
39:03It's quite difficult to face up to what happened in history.
39:08But if we want to have, you know, a really healthy relationship
39:12in the future with this superpower,
39:15it would be useful for us to sort out what happened
39:19and come to some kind of reconciliation.
39:24Just before I pack up and go home,
39:26I begin my contribution to the reconciliation process.
39:31It doesn't feel, however,
39:36that my journey is at an end.
39:42I'm writing an email to Caroline Dyer,
39:45the great-granddaughter of General Dyer,
39:48who was in command of the troops that did their killing.
39:53The Empire, I think, is very controversial to a lot of people.
39:57However, they did do a lot of good.
40:01The email is also going to Raj Kohli.
40:06Raj, it's nice to meet you.
40:08Very nice to meet you. Welcome.
40:09I met Raj at his family home in Rugby before I flew out to Amritsar.
40:14His great-uncle survived the massacre by hiding under a pile of dead bodies.
40:19How could anyone even feel that, you know, that ordering that firing,
40:27that they would ever be able to justify that?
40:29So I had this idea of perhaps getting Caroline Dyer together with Raj Kohli,
40:36get them in a room together and maybe get them to agree on some common ground.
40:41and I thought I'd invite them to a meeting.
40:45That's it.
40:50Both Caroline and Raj say yes.
40:52Two weeks later, I'm in a London office waiting for them.
40:57I wish I hadn't had this idea.
41:00It feels like my finals.
41:03It feels like I'm trying to single-handedly create a truth and reconciliation committee for the British Empire.
41:11And maybe I'm trying to be too ambitious.
41:15But I need to give it a shot now they're coming.
41:21Ah, Caroline, hi.
41:23Hello, how lovely to see you.
41:25Welcome to this completely atmosphere-less room.
41:28It really is.
41:29But lovely. You will bring the atmosphere in anyway, so don't worry.
41:33This is Raj Kohli, Dr Raj Kohli.
41:36Hello, Raj.
41:37Good morning.
41:38How lovely to meet you.
41:39Really lovely to meet you.
41:40Thank you, I hope so.
41:41General Dyer's a very honourable man and greatly liked by the Indian,
41:45who spoke three or four Indian languages, which very few people did.
41:50I think we may be brushing over his contempt for Indians
41:56when we talk about the fact that he knew four languages.
42:01and certainly your recollection or understanding of how he was received by Indians
42:08would certainly be at odds with what we understand and what is written about him.
42:15So, your great uncle, Balwant?
42:18Yes.
42:18What was his experience?
42:20He's a young man.
42:21He described himself as a bit of a hell-raiser.
42:23Ah, so he was a looter. Was he a looter?
42:25No, I wouldn't say he was a looter.
42:26He was an educated man and certainly far from it.
42:29and I don't think the family would have allowed that kind of behaviour.
42:32I would object quite strongly to the view that they were rioters.
42:38I do respect hugely the people and the families who got killed and everything.
42:44But so does General Dyer.
42:45I am also very aware of what's happening here.
42:47You've got two Asian men, Sikh men in glasses and blue suits.
42:52I don't want to bully you.
42:54I don't want to bully you.
42:55I shall get up and walk out.
42:56Do you feel slightly bullied by us?
42:57No.
42:58I feel quite nervous because I'm not well-read, but I don't feel I have to be well-read on
43:07this subject.
43:08I feel the responsibility as a Briton, as a British person, that we must view things honestly in the very
43:16recent past.
43:17So you feel like being dishonest?
43:19I believe that you...
43:23Okay, I'm going to put my niceties aside and I'm going to say I think you have conveniently not sought
43:33objectivity.
43:35I think you've been dishonest with what the colonial past was like.
43:39If we can't be honest about Britain in India a hundred years ago, then how can we be honest about
43:46how we view Britain in the future?
43:48No, I think history is history and you've got to accept that and not wallow in it.
43:56Good.
43:57No.
44:01None of this is easy for anyone connected with this painful past.
44:07But en route to Wolverhampton, going home to see my mum, it strikes me there will be a simple way
44:13to break the deadlock.
44:17Britain should formally apologise for the Amritsar massacre of 1919.
44:36So I think we've got a willful amnesia about empire.
44:41And an apology would just force us to confront some of the issues.
44:46The empire explains so much about our psychology and language and food.
44:51And I've discovered that empire was basically an exercise in institutionalised racism.
45:00And to realise that that was a case is quite a startling thing, isn't it?
45:05It fundamentally changes the way I see my country and my place in it.
45:12I don't think British people should walk around with a sense of shame every minute of their lives about what
45:18happened in their name.
45:19They weren't even there.
45:19But a bit of acknowledgement is a good thing, you know?
45:25I think an apology is a good beginning because it will get people talking.
45:30You know, this is about now.
45:31It's about working out where we stand in relation to racism, where we stand in relation to India and our
45:39place in the world.
45:39And it would be a very healthy thing to do.
45:46Just, er, yeah.
45:51Cheers, thank you.
45:59No, I, er...
46:04Cheers, thank you.
46:10No, I, er...
46:11No, I, er...
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