THE British empire in India was built on piles of corpses and it did not let the blood, tears and sweat dry, from the battle of Palashi to man-made famines killing 29 million Indians and finally dividing the country before it was forced to leave.

The flip side of the history witnessed resistance to the British rule from the very beginning. Between 1765 and the national uprising of 1857-59, there were roughly 46 local revolts and uprisings against intolerable conditions including heavy taxes, confiscation of property, destruction of local industry, enforcing Christianity and ruling by coercion.

The 1857-59 revolt, though it was crushed, shook the British empire at its foundation. The challenge to the world’s worst brutal British rule continued until India achieved independence in August 1947. Anti-colonial challenges in the form of small local uprisings to nationalist and revolutionary movements.

Civil disobedience by the Kuka Movement 1872, revolt against the Bengal Partition, Pagri Sabal Jatta 1907, the Gadhar Arms uprising of 1914-15, protests against compulsory army recruitment, resistance to the war tax, peasant uprisings in Champaran, Bihar, and Kheda, Gujarat, are just some examples.

Shaken by the resistance and the forthcoming challenges, the colonial administration swiftly turned its back on the promised constitutional rights, and it enacted the draconian Rowlatt Act on March 18 1919. The Act removed all civil and political liberties of the Indian citizens, and granted absolute power to the police to arrest and indefinitely imprison any suspected nationalists or revolutionaries. Freedom of speech, press and public assembly of more than four people was made illegal.

The Act sent a wave of anger followed by widespread protests all over India. The success of peaceful general strikes observed in Amritsar and the unity of Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims shown on April 9 1919 at the Ram Naumi — a Hindu festival — shocked Michael O’Dwyer, the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab.

Sensing the defeat of the British divine “divide and Rule” policy, he was determined to crush the communal unity. Thus he ordered the arrest of Dr Saif-ud-Din Kitchlew and Dr Satya Pal. The colonial troops opened fired and killed 20 and wounded dozens more protesters resisting the arrest of their dear leaders.

Angered by the shooting, protesters attacked and damaged British buildings, killed five Europeans and left Miss Sherwood for dead. In desperation to control the unrest in Amritsar, Michael O’Dwyer brought and handed over the command in the hands of the hardliner General Reginald Dyer.

On the morning of April 13 1919, General Dyer announced that any public gathering or procession was to become illegal. He had carefully calculated the day of action with full knowledge that April 13 was the beginning of Vaisakhi, the harvest festival — a significant day for Sikhs.

People from the surrounding villages descended to Amritsar and after worshipping at the Golden Temple they gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh to celebrate Vaisakhi. A public meeting to protest against the arrest of their beloved leaders and the Rowlatt Act had also been organised.

Furious to discover his orders had been disobeyed, General Dyer arrived at the Bagh with his army of men and two armoured vehicles. He ordered, without any warning, for the soldiers to shoot indiscriminately at the crowd of over 20,000. The shooting continued for ten minutes, killing more than 1,500 and wounding four times more unarmed men, women and children. The youngest victim was a six-month-old baby.

General Dyer imposed an eight-hour curfew order, left the bodies unattended, and disallowed medical treatment and water supply to the wounded. Ratna Devi, the only eyewitness, sat by her husband’s dead body that horrific night. In her testament she stated god only knew how she spent that dreadful night, surrounded by piles of dead and the wounded.

To maximise the suffering, General Dyer imposed three months of martial law on Amritsar, Lahore, Gujarat, Gujranwala (the ex-prime minister of Britain Rishi Sunak’s ancestral district) and Lyallpur, preventing assembly of more than four, cut off all electricity, water supply, placed a nine days crawling order.

General Dyer showed no remorse for the crime he had committed. He boasted to the Hunter Commission later that it was his duty to teach Indians a lesson for disobeying his orders. He was given a hero’s reception and was presented a sword of honour engraved “saviour of India” by the House of Lords and collected £26,000 for his pension.

The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919 left a deep scar on the psyche of the people of undivided India, a wound that still is weeping. Many independence activists — Rabindranath Tagore, Sarojini Naidu, Hakim Ajmal Khan — renounced their awards in protest.

This brutal event and abuse of power radicalised many young people such as Bhagat Singh and his comrades. In revenge, Udham Singh assassinated O’Dwyer at Caxton Hall in London on March 13 1940. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre became a shining example and symbol of anti-colonial struggle not only for the Indian nation but for all colonial nations struggling for their self-determination.

More than a hundred years have passed but no-one has been brought to justice. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre 1919 Centenary Committee demands a formal apology delivered by the serving British Prime Minister to the people of the Indian subcontinent.

It also demands the teaching of colonial history in British schools as an integral part of the National Curriculum. The committee believes that the teaching of the colonial history will pave the way for a brighter future for younger generations enabling them to challenge the atrocities still being committed by the imperialist powers.

The committee distances itself from and condemns the demand for a limited and narrow-visioned apology just to the Sikhs. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre 1919 Centenary Committee stands by the strong message of secular unity — a legacy of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919.

The committee believes it is time for the British government to come out of the behind the distorted history usually written from a lens of the oppressors and face the truth. The committee demands the Labour Party and the Prime Minister Keir Starmer to serve the pledge it had taken in the 2019 election manifesto and deliver a full, clear and unequivocal apology to the South Asian diaspora and to the people of Indian subcontinent.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre commemoration meeting to be held on April 1 at 5.30pm, Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, 1 Victoria Embankment, London SW1A 2JR, organised by John McDonnell MP. Speakers include Morning Star international editor Roger McKenzie and Jeremy Corbyn MP.

Joginder Bains is secretary of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre 1919 Centenary Committee.