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- Recently, the Gujarat government marked 100 years of the Pal-Dadhvav killings, calling it a massacre “bigger than the Jallianwala Bagh”.
What is Pal – Dadhvav Massacre?
- The massacre took place on March 7, 1922, in the Pal-Chitariya and Dadhvaav villages of Sabarkantha district, then part of Idar state (present-day Gujarat).
- Villagers from Pal, Dadhvav, and Chitariya had gathered on the banks of river Heir as part of the ‘Eki movement’, led by one Motilal Tejawat.
- The movement was to protest against the land revenue tax (lagaan) imposed on the peasants by the British and feudal lords.
- British Paramilitary force was on hunt for Tehawat. It heard of this gathering and reached the spot.
- Nearly 200 bhils under the leadership of Tehawat lifted their bows and arrows. But, the Britishers opened fire on them. Nearly 1,000 tribals (Bhils) fell to bullets.
- Tejwat, however, escaped and later “returned to the spot to christen it ‘Veerbhumi’.”
Remembrance:
- A Gujarat government release on the centenary of the massacre described the incident as “more brutal than the Jalliawala Bagh massacre of 1919”.
Source: IE
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