On Saturday at 11 a.m., Hyderabad remembered the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre by observing a two-minute silence and organising a lecture by Ghiasuddin Akbar, a member of Hyderabad Historical Society, marking the occasion at Salar Jung Museum.

“Facts are facts, but how people remember and present them is important. In pre-Independence India, Punjab and Bengal were the hotbeds of anti-colonial activities. The public meeting on Baisakhi day in Amritsar, which coincided with the formation of Khalsa Panth in 1699, was chosen by the British officers to teach Indians a lesson,” said Mr. Akbar, giving the backdrop of the event that changed Indian history.

He narrated the day’s drama right from the day Marcella Sherwood, a missionary, was assaulted on a street where she was cycling, to the time the soldiers of Reginald Dyer exhausted their ammunition, using up 1,650 bullets killing hundreds of people.

“We seem to have forgotten the tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre and are bent upon proving Winston Churchill right when he spoke about how India’s democracy experiment will degenerate,” said Mr. Akbar trying to connect the events of the day with the present political discourse. The event was organised by the Historical Society of Hyderabad.