A commemorative postage stamp on the 75^th Anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (Amritsar massacre), a horrific atrocity done to Indians by British Empire :

Issued by India

Issued on Apr 13, 1994

Issued for : The Dept. of Posts is privileged to bring out a special postage stamp to commemorate the 75^th Anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh Martyrdom.

Credits :
Stamp design : Suresh Kumar
Cancellation : Alka Sharma, Artist Dept. of Posts.

Type : Stamp, Mint Condition

Colour : Two Colour

Denomination : 100 Paise

Overall size : 3.91 x 2.90 cms.

Printing size : 3.55 x 2.54 cms.

Perforation : 13 x 13

Paper : Imported Un W/M Adhesive Gravure Coated Stamp Paper in reels of 47 cms width

Number of stamps Printed : 1 Million

Number per issue sheet : 35

Printing Process : Photogravure

Printer : India Security Press

About : 

• An irregular quadrangle of space indifferently walled, three trees, a shrine, a well and a narrow entrance. This was Jallianwala Bagh, where, on that fateful Sunday, the 13^th of April, 1919, an assembly of about 25000 unarmed and defenceless people was mowed down, under a hail of bullets from the guns at the command of General Dyer. The whole scene was macabre. It was estimated that 379 people were killed and about 1200 wounded. But the precise numbers will never be known.
• The events that led to this grim and gruesome tragedy on that Baisakhi day are only too well known. The popular resentment against the repressive measures taken by the British rulers had been growing apace with the rising tempo of Indian nationalism. When the infamous Rowlatt Acts were imposed on 23^rd March 1919, the cries of “Na Appeal, Na Dalil, Na Vakil“ which rent the air, pithily summed up the draconian character of this legislation. Mahatma Gandhi‘s call for hartal and passive resistance roused the nation to mass action with Punjab and especially Amritsar giving the lead. Prominent leaders were arrested and demonstrations by the people were fired upon resulting in deaths and injury. The military was called in to take charge of Amritsar.
• On the 13^th of April 1919, the ban on public meetings which was announced early in the day, was not heard by many in the city and especially those who came in from the outskirts for the Baisakhi Mela. As the hour of dusk drew near, the peaceful gathering in Jallianwala Bagh swelled to many thousands of people whose one thought was to demonstrate their solidarity and express their will to freedom. Little did they realize the fate that awaited them.
  
• The martyrdom of those who laid down their lives that day at Jallianwala Bagh, strengthened the resolve of the people to oppose foreign rule, undaunted by suffering and struggle for independence and hastened the dawn of freedom. Today Jallianwala Bagh is an everlasting symbol of nonviolence, peace, unity and steadfastness of purpose in the quest for liberty and freedom.

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