MPs of the Congress and SAD on Wednesday demanded in Lok Sabha that the House should collectively demand an apology from the British for the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh at Amritsar.
The Lok Sabha was discussing the bill to amend the Jallianwala Bagh national memorial trust when Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said this year would be the 100th anniversary of the massacre and it would be befitting to seek an apology from the British.
Akali Dal MP Prem Singh Chandumajra said an apology from the British was in order.
Tharoor opposed the bill saying it was the Congress in the pre-Independence era that had set up the memorial and the removal of the Congress president as one of the trustees was nothing but politics. The government is trying to deny history, he said.
Minister for Culture Mahesh Sharma wondered why the head of a political party should be there in the trust.
Tharoor has authored two books that critically look at the Empire. These are ‘An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India’ and the ‘Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India’.