A plaque at Mangadh in Rajasthan depicts the massacre of tribals by British forces in 1913, in which an estima... Read More

JAIPUR: Days after UK prime minister Theresa May described the Jallianwala Bagh massacre as a “shameful scar” on British Indian history, tribal groups here have demanded that Britain apologise for a lesser known massacre in Rajasthan , which, they say, claimed many more lives and predated the Amritsar tragedy by nearly five-and-a-half years.

Saturday marks the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in which 349 people were shot down in cold blood, according to British records, though the Partition Museum puts the toll at 547.

The Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) and some organisations in Rajasthan are now highlighting what they say was a bigger massacre that took place at Mangadh in Banswara district on November 17, 1913, when an estimated 1,500 tribals were butchered by British troops.

“The tribals, who had refused to pay taxes to the local zamindars and resisted the colonisers for trying to destroy their culture, were wiped out by British troops in broad daylight. It is sad that this tribal uprising does not find the same place in history as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, simply because the British had the support of local zamindars,” said BTP’s Rajasthan unit president Vela Ram Ghogra.

Chandra Shekhar Sharma, an expert on Mewar history, told TOI that though nearly 1,500 tribals were killed, no death toll is mentioned in British era documents. “The documents, however, give a detailed account of how guns and cannons were ferried on mules to the hilly area of Mangadh and how the tribals were subjected to indiscriminate firing,” Sharma added.

Lal Shankar Pardi, 75, a Banswara-based tribal activist says his grandfather, Sihu Pardi, was killed in the massacre. “My late father, Ponghar Pardi, then aged 12, escaped miraculously,” he adds.

"We demand an apology from Britain for the massacre of our elders,” said Lal Shankar.

Growing pressure from tribal groups in the last two decades has forced the last two governments in Rajasthan to erect a ‘Shaheed Pillar’ and a statue of Govind Guru, the spiritual leader of the tribals who had called the gathering, at the massacre site. A university, too, has been named after Govind Guru.

The massacre did not find a mention in school textbooks in Rajasthan till a decade ago.

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