Dyerism: Why the phrase coined by Mahatma Gandhi strikes a chord | The Indian Express

Dyerism: Why the phrase coined by Mahatma Gandhi strikes a chord | The Indian Express

Written by D. Raja |Updated: September 18, 2019 10:00:05 am

The writer is national secretary, CPI, and Rajya Sabha MP.

Dyerism: Why the phrase coined by Mahatma Gandhi strikes a chord

What was done to J&K is contrary to PM Narendra Modi’s assurance — abjuring “gaali” and “goli” and winning over the Kashmiris by embracing them (“gale lagaane se”). But the clampdown on Kashmiris is nothing but Dyerism.

What was done to Jammu and Kashmir is contrary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance in his last year’s Independence Day speech. (Express photo: Shuaib Masoodi)

In 1919, the Rowlatt Act enacted by the British government took away the civil rights of Indians. Those who protested peacefully in Jallianwala Bagh faced merciless police firing on the orders of General R Dyer. That cold-blooded assault was described by Mahatma Gandhi as Dyerism. He employed the concept to denote practices of exclusion, including the ostracisation of the Dalits from all spheres of social life in 1919.