Both the Jallianwallah Bagh incident and Operation Blue Star were one of the most inhuman incidents conducted by man against man. I say this because in both the operation innocent men, women and children were killed. The Jallianwallah Bagh incident occurred during India’s struggle for independence. This was a very emotional moment for the family members of the victims as well as for the country. Operation Blue Star was carried out by the Government in order to suppress illegal and terrorist activities of a small militant group of fanatics Sikhs who had taken over the Golden Temple.
The analogy between the Jallianwallah Bagh incident and Operation Blue Star is that both had taken place in Amritsar, Punjab and both hurt the Sikh sentiments. Ironically the results of both the incidents may have varied if the head of the operation were different. Thus perception comes to play. Perception is a unique characteristic of human beings and differs from person to person. It is our duty that we must respect the perception of others but at the same time learn to question it. The Jallianwallah Bagh incident occurred during India’s struggle for Independence, the Rowlatt Act a.
k. a The Black Act had just been passed by British authorities. This act stated that no gathering or procession can be carried out by Indians. In Jallianwallah Bagh a peaceful gathering was being held when General Dyre opened fire. According to the general the crowd was plotting against the British. No decision was communicated to the General nor did he consult a higher authority, thus without any verbal message the massacre was carries out. Yes, the general may have been thinking right but there was no reason to attack the women and children.
My reasoning is that the general had personal grudges against the Indians which provoked him to do such a gruesome act. The general broke humanity’s ethics and moral values in doing such an act. This event goes down in history as one of the cruelest activities conducted by man against man. The emotions of the victim’s family were such that they were traumatized by this event. It is said that the walls of the Jallianwallah Bagh bullet marks can still be seen. Operation Blue Star occurred during the reign of Indira Gandhi.
Militants had hid weapons in the Golden temple of Amritsar and posed a threat to the country. The golden temple is a place of worship and it is unethical for weapons or any sort of negative object to be within the temple boundaries. The terrorists had no moral values to do such an act. I think that Operation Blue Star was good for our country as it flushed out the negative energy that had been accumulating within the temple. People may perceive this operation as hurting the sentiments of the Sikhs but terrorists have no belief or faith and thus this operation was a success.
Mrs. Gandhi communicated this decision to the army general by means of language. Information is a vital aspect for an organisation to work properly be it a Government or terrorist organization. In the case of Jallianwallah Bagh the British did not have the information that the general would open fire, it can also be said that there was no knowledge about the real reason of the gathering. In the Operation Blue Star the military had information about Bhinderewala and his capture of the temple, thus it was easy for the army to flush out the terrorists.
Science has played a major role in these two events. In one case the advancements made in science are used to kill humanity and in the other it is used for the safety of humanity. It is up to us to decide which aspect of science we can use for the betterment of the world. I would like to conclude by saying that every step we take leaves a footprint in time. Thereby it is best for us to look back at the happy emotions we have been through in life and forget the sad ones.
We must move on in life and live and work hard in the present for a better tomorrow. I hope that incidents like Jallianwallah Bagh and operation Blue Star do not occur again and we must make sure that we do not give any reason for people to conduct such acts of cruelty again. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge section.
