When British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits the Indian state of Gujarat on Thursday, he will be asked to apologize for a colonial-era massacre in which up to 1,200 people were slaughtered revolting against imperial control 100 years ago.
Last month marked the 100th anniversary of the Pal-Dadhvav massacre, in which 2,000 tribal people headed by social reformer Motilal Tejawat assembled to protest exploitation, forced labor, and exorbitant taxes, according to Indian historians.
British Major HG Sutton, according to the Gujarat state administration, ordered his forces to commence fire.
“The entire area was packed with corpses, like a war,” it stated. It went on to say that two wells were “overflowing with bodies.” The deaths were depicted as the “untold story of valor and sacrifice of the tribals” on the state’s official float at this year’s annual Republic Day parade, according to a statement that put the death toll at 1,200.
Johnson, who has been chastised over Downing Street parties during the coronavirus outbreak, arrives in Ahmedabad, the state’s largest city, on Thursday to begin a two-day visit to India.
“These atrocities occurred during British control, so if the British Prime Minister comes here, he must apologize,” Tejawat’s grandson Mahendra told AFP.
“My grandfather was only waging a campaign for the poor, harmless, and ignorant tribals,” the 77-year-old continued.
“If he believes what happened to the defenseless tribals was wrong, he must express regret.”
Journalist Vishnu Pandya, author of a Gujarati-language book about revolutionary sites in the state, has gathered many oral tales of the killings from the tribal population, where the incident is described in multiple folk songs, according to him.
“The British Prime Minister who is coming here wasn’t even born at the time,” he continued, “and he would have no knowledge of the episode.” “What has been done is done; it is history, and we must look forward.”
