From Amritsar to Britain: enduring colonialism

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/amritsar-britain-enduring-colonialism

 

From Amritsar to Britain: enduring colonialism

My grandfather was 15 when he was sentenced to hang — he escaped and went on to fight successfully for Indian independence. The legacy of colonialism, however, still remains, writes DR EVELYNE GILL GODFREY

THE first photo I have of my grandfather was presumably taken by the British colonial authorities in the Punjab, after his arrest for protesting against the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre at Amritsar.

At the time of the massacre in April 1919, my great-uncle had just returned to their farm in the village of Posi, a district of Hoshiarpur in the Punjab, after serving in the British Army’s Sikh Regiment in the first world war.

My grandfather went with his older brother to protest against the Amritsar massacre. Along with thousands of others, they were both arrested. My great-uncle was eventually released after serving two years in prison.

1919: My grandfather, aged around 15.

My grandfather was an activist involved in the Indian independence movement from 1919-47, most of that time as a member of the Indian Independence League. My grandmother read law in the early 1930s, when very few women went to university at all.....