Early Life
A valiant boy was born in Sunam, Sangrur district of Punjab, India on December 26, 1899, to Sardar Tehal Singh Jammu and Mata Narain Kaur. His mother passed away when he was an infant and his father who was a farmer died a year later. Thereafter he and his brother Mukta Singh were raised in Central Khalsa Orphanage Putligarh, Amritsar. During his stay there, he was administered in the Sikh initiatory rites and it was there when he received the name, Udham Singh.
He studied till 10th and passed his matriculation in the year 1918. It was in 1919 when he left the orphanage.
Udham Singh and Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
It was on April 10, 1919, under the Rowlatt Act, that the leaders of the Indian National Congress were arrested which led to a widespread protest at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919. At that time, more than 20,000 unarmed people were present.
This is when Col Dyer sensed some mutiny against the officials. With a fear that this protest might unify the Hindus and Muslims against the Britishers, he surrounded the Bagh from all directions and enclosed the three exits. He then took up a position at a raised bank and without any warning given an order to open fire and shoot at the crowd causing huge chaos as only one gate was open and there the British troops were posted. This continued for about ten minutes until the ammunition supply was almost exhausted.
In this deadly massacre Sardar Udham Singh who was then 19 years old then, was also present and got injured, unable to move he stayed there till the next morning with the dead bodies of the innocents all around.
This was the time when he swore to take revenge against Col Dyer and the Britishers.
Plan to Take Revenge
After this incident, he was involved in revolutionary politics and got influenced by the fierce freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. He organized the Indian overseas in order to overthrow the British Rule in India by joining the Ghadar Party in the year 1924.
On the orders of Bhagat Singh, he returned to India bringing 25 associates and ammunition but was soon arrested. At this time, revolvers, ammunition, and copies of a prohibited Ghadar Party Paper called “Ghadr-i-Gunj” were seized which led him to jail for five years.
In 1931 though he was released, his movements were monitored by the police. But, by avoiding the police reached Germany via Kashmir.
He reached London in 1935, where he was employed as an engineer and there he made plans to kill O’Dwyer.
Source: Jagrantv
Assassination Plan Successful
On March 13, 1940, in a joint meeting of the East India Association and Central Asian Society (now called Royal Society for Asian Affairs) at Caxton Hall, London where Michael O’Dwyer was scheduled to speak, Sardar Udham Singh concealed a revolver and entered the meeting area.
As soon as the meeting concluded, Udham Singh moving towards the speaking platform shot O’Dwyer twice, one bullet hit the heart and the other one hit the right lung, killing him instantly.
Others like Lawrence Dundas, Louis Dane, and Charles Cochrane-Baillie were injured in the shooting too.
He was then immediately arrested and was taken to the Brixton prison, where he was on a hunger strike for 36-days.
In the police statement while in custody he even mentioned his name as ‘Ram Mohammad Singh Azad’, where the first three words of the three major religions (Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh) and the last word represented his anti-colonial sentiment.
The Trial and His Everlasting Presence
On June 4, 1940, his trial began at Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey before Justice Atkinson, G.B. McClure as the prosecuting barrister, and V.K. Krishna Menon and St John Hutchinson representing him.
When inquired about the motivation behind the assassination, he replied to have a grudge against him, he was the real culprit to crush the spirit of his people and then therefore he crushed him.
In the end, he mentioned, “What greater honour can be bestowed on me than death for the sake of my motherland?”
On July 31, 1940, he was hanged at Pentonville Prison.
Conclusion
He was one of those who dedicated his life to bringing freedom to India.
His fierceness and his valour are what makes him immortal.
It is so very true that-
“For every O’Dwyer, there is always a Shaheed Udham Singh.”
Written By: Devangi Sharma
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