Enduring scar

100 years later, Jallianwala Bagh pain lingers

British Prime Minister Theresa May came close but a long-awaited formal apology from the British establishment was not forthcoming. A few days before the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, she described the tragedy as a “shameful scar on British Indian history” in a statement in Parliament. She reminded MPs that the Queen had described the tragedy in 1997 as a “distressing example of our past history with India”. The British political establishment’s somewhat equivocal stance on Jallianwala Bagh is telling. Ms May’s predecessor David Cameron paid obeisance at the Golden Temple and described the tragedy as “deeply shameful”.