Vidurashwatha witnessed a ghastly “massacre” — as described by eyewitnesses — of 32 freedom fighters in police firing for trying to hoist the tricolour on April 25, 1938. This was also one of the rare instances when the Congress-led freedom movement was violently suppressed in the Mysore kingdom under the rule of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV and Sir Mirza Ismail as the Diwan. Vidurashwatha subsequently came to be known as the Jallianwala Bagh of South India.
Following the 1938 Haripura Congress convention’s resolution, Mysore Pradesh Congress was established and its talks with the Mysore administration broke down with Mirza Ismail rejecting their demands to establish a Javabdari Sarkara (responsible government) and allow the hoisting of the tricolour across the State. To protest this, the Congress held a convention at Shivapura in Mandya district in the second week of April 1938. Then Deputy Commissioner Inayatullah Mehkri reportedly refused to open fire at the peaceful convention for breaking prohibitory orders and was transferred out. The Shivapura convention saw several leaders hoist the tricolour and get arrested. The convention was followed by similar programmes to hoist the tricolour across the State.
