Udham Singh
was a revolutionary belonging to the Ghadar Party, best known for his
assassination in London of Michael O'Dwyer, the former lieutenant governor of
Punjab in India, on 13 March 1940. The assassination was in Avenge for the
Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919 for which O'Dwyer was
responsible. Udham Singh was subsequently tried and convicted of murder and
hanged on 31 July 1940. While in custody, he used the name, Ram Mohammad Singh
Azad, which represents the three major religions of Punjab and his
anti-colonial sentiment.
Udham Singh
is a well-known figure of the Indian independence movement. He is also referred
to as Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh (the expression
"Shaheed-i-Azam", means "the great martyr"). A district
(Udham Singh Nagar) of Uttarakhand was named after him to pay homage in October
1995 by the then Mayawati government.
Udham Singh
was born as Sher Singh on 26 December 1899 at Sunam, Sangrur district of
Punjab, India. His father, Sardar Tehal Singh Jammu, was a farmer and also
worked as the railway crossing watchman in the village of Upalli.
After his
father's death, Singh and his elder brother, Mukta Singh, were taken in by the
Central Khalsa Orphanage Putlighar in Amritsar. At the orphanage, Singh was
administered the Sikh initiatory rites and received the name of Udham Singh. He
passed his matriculation examination in 1918 and left the orphanage in 1919.
On 10 April
1919, a number of local leaders allied to the Indian National Congress
including Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew were arrested under the Rowlatt Act.
Protestors against the arrests were fired on by British troops, precipitating a
riot. On 13 April, over twenty thousand unarmed People were assembled in
Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar to protest against the act. Udham Singh and his
friends from the orphanage were serving water to the crowd.
Udham Singh
became involved in revolutionary politics and was deeply influenced by Bhagat
Singh and his revolutionary group. In 1924, Udham Singh became involved with
the Ghadar Party, organizing Indians overseas towards overthrowing colonial
rule. In 1927, he returned to India on orders from Bhagat Singh, bringing 25
associates as well as revolvers and ammunition. Soon after, he was arrested for
possession of unlicensed arms. Revolvers, ammunition, and copies of a
prohibited Ghadar Party paper called "Ghadr-i-Gunj" ("Voice of
Revolt") were confiscated. He was prosecuted and sentenced to five years
in prison.
Upon his
release from prison in 1931, Udham Singh movements were under constant
surveillance by the Punjab police. He made his way to Kashmir, where he was
able to evade the police and escape to Germany. In 1934, he reached London,
where he found employment as an engineer. Privately, he formed plans to
assassinate Michael O'Dwyer. In Udham Singh diaries for 1939 and 1940, he
occasionally misspells O'Dwyer's surname as "O'Dyer", leaving a
possibility he may have confused O'Dwyer with General Dyer.
On 13 March
1940, Michael O'Dwyer was scheduled to speak at a joint meeting of the East
India Association and the Central Asian Society (now Royal Society for Asian
Affairs) at Caxton Hall, London. Udham Singh concealed inside his jacket pocket
a revolver he had earlier purchased from a soldier in a pub, then entered the
hall and found an open seat. As the meeting concluded, Udham Singh shot O'Dwyer
twice as he moved towards the speaking platform. One of these bullets passed
through O'Dwyer's heart and right lung, killing him almost instantly. Others
injured in the shooting included Sir Louis Dane, Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess
of Zetland, and Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington. Udham Singh
surrendered immediately and said take him in custody as he took avenge of
Jaliawala Massacre.
On 1 April
1940, Udham Singh was formally charged with the murder of Michael O'Dwyer and
remanded in custody at Brixton Prison. Initially asked to explain his
motivations, Udham Singh stated: I did it because I had a grudge against him.
He deserved it. I don't belong to society or anything else. I don't care. I
don't mind dying. What is the use of waiting until you get old? Is Zetland
dead? He ought to be. I put two into him? I bought the revolver from a soldier
in a public house. My parents died when I was three or four. Only one dead? I
thought I could get more.
While in
custody, he called himself "Ram Mohammad Singh Azad": the first three
words of the name reflect the three major religious communities of Punjab
(Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh); the last word "Azad" (literally
"free") reflects his anti-colonial sentiment.
While
awaiting his trial, Udham Singh went on a 42-day hunger strike and was
force-fed. On 4 June 1940, his trial commenced at the Central Criminal Court,
Old Bailey, before Justice Atkinson, with V.K. Krishna Menon and St John
Hutchinson representing him. G. B. McClure was the prosecuting barrister. When
asked about his motivation, Udham Singh explained:
I did it
because I had a grudge against him. He deserved it. He was the real culprit. He
wanted to crush the spirit of my people, so I have crushed him. For the full 21
years, I have been trying to seek vengeance. I am happy that I have done the
job. I am not scared of death. I am dying for my country. I have seen my people
starving in India under British rule. I have protested against this, it was my
duty. What greater honor could be bestowed on me than death for the sake of my
motherland?
Udham Singh
was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. On 31 July 1940, Udham Singh
was hanged at Pentonville Prison. His remains are preserved at the Jallianwala
Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab. Every 31 July, marches are held in Sunam by various
organizations and every statue of Udham Singh in the city is paid tribute with
flower garlands.
Following
his conviction, he made a speech which the judge directed should not be
released to the press. However, political activists who had set up the Shaheed
Udham Singh Trust and working with the Indian Workers Association (GB) ran a
campaign to have the court record of his statement published along with other
material. This proved successful in 1996 when his speech was published along
with three further files covering the trial, and the Ghadar Directory, a document compiled by British intelligence in 1934 detailing 792 people regarded
as a threat including Udham Singh.
He started
the speech with a denunciation of British Imperialism:
"I say
down with British Imperialism. You say India does not have peace. We have only
slavery Generations of so-called civilization has brought us everything filthy
and degenerating known to the human race. All you have to do is read your own
history. If you have any human decency about you, you should die with shame.
The brutality and bloodthirsty way in which the so-called intellectuals who
call themselves rulers of civilization in the world are bastard blood"
At this point, he was interrupted by the judge, but after some discussion, he
continued:
"I do
not care about the sentence of death. It means nothing at all. I do not care
about dying or anything. I do not worry about it at all. I am dying for a
purpose.’ Thumping the rail of the dock, he exclaimed, ‘We are suffering from
the British Empire.’ Udham Singh continued more quietly. I am not afraid to
die. I am proud to die, to have to free my native land and I hope that when I
am gone, I hope that in my place will come thousands of my countrymen to drive
you dirty dogs out; to free my country.
"I am standing before an English jury. I am in an English court. You
people go to India and when you come back you are given a prize and put in the
House of Commons. We come to England and we are sentenced to death.’
"I
never meant anything, but I will take it. I do not care anything about it, but
when you dirty dogs come to India there comes a time when you will be cleaned
out of India. All your British Imperialism will be smashed.’
"Machine
guns on the streets of India mow down thousands of poor women and children
wherever your so-called flag of democracy and Christianity flies.’
"Your
conduct, your conduct – I am talking about the British government. I have
nothing against the English people at all. I have more English friends living in
England than I have in India. I have great sympathy for the workers of England.
I am against the Imperialist Government.’
"You
people are suffering – workers. Everyone is suffering through these dirty dogs;
these mad beasts. India is only slavery. Killing, mutilating and destroying British
Imperialism. People do not read about it in the papers. We know what is going
on in India."
At this point, the judge refused to hear any more, but Singh continued:
"You
ask me what I have to say. I am saying it. Because you people are dirty. You do
not want to hear from us about what you are doing in India.
He then
thrust his glasses back into his pocket, and exclaimed three words in
Hindustani and then shouted:
'Down with
British Imperialism! Down with British dirty dogs!"
He turned
to leave the dock, spitting across the solicitor’s table.
When this material was published, it was reported in both British and Asian press, the
statement was translated into Gurmukhi script and distributed at the Sikh
Vaisaki Festival in Birmingham, April 1997. John Major, the Prime Minister at
that time remarked: "The Amritsar Massacre was an unhappy episode in
Indo-British relations which were controversial in both countries. Today [8
October 1996] I am glad to say, our relationship is excellent. India is an
important partner and a close friend of this country."
Although
many Indians regarded Udham Singh actions as a response to some brutal aspects
of British colonial rule, officially, his actions were deplored and condemned
in India, with Mahatma Gandhi referring to Udham Singh actions as "an act
of insanity", stating: "The outrage has caused me deep pain. I regard
it as an act of insanity. I hope this will not be allowed to affect political
judgment." The Hindustan Socialist Republican Army condemned Mahatma
Gandhi's statement, considering this to be a challenge to the Indian Youths. Pt
Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in The National Herald, "[The] assassination is
regretted but it is earnestly hoped that it will not have far-reaching
repercussions on [the] political future of India."
In its 18
March 1940 issue, Amrita Bazar Patrika wrote, "O'Dwyer's name is connected
with Punjab incidents which India will never forget". The Punjab section of
Congress in the Punjab Assembly led by Dewan Chaman Lal refused to vote for the
Premier's motion to condemn the assassination. In April 1940, at the Annual
Session of the All India Congress Committee held in commemoration of the 21st
anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, the youth wing of the Indian
National Congress Party displayed revolutionary slogans in support of Udham Singh,
applauding his action as patriotic and heroic.
Udham Singh
had some support from the international press. The Times of London called him a
"fighter for freedom", his actions "an expression of the pent-up
fury of the downtrodden Indian people."Bergeret from Rome praised Udham Singh's
action as courageous. In March 1940, Indian National Congress leader Jawahar
Lal Nehru, condemned the action of Udham Singh as senseless, however, in 1962,
Nehru reversed his stance and applauded Udham Singh with the following
published statement: "I salute Shaheed-i-Azam Udham Singh with reverence
who had kissed the noose so that we may be free."
In 1974, Udham
Singh remains were exhumed and repatriated to India at the request of MLA Sadhu
Singh Thind. Thind accompanied the remains back to India, where the casket was
received by Indira Gandhi, Shankar Dayal Sharma, and Zail Singh. Udham Singh
was later cremated in his birthplace of Sunam in Punjab and his ashes were
scattered in the Sutlej River. Some of his ashes were retained; these retained
ashes are kept inside a sealed urn at Jallianwala Bagh.
A charity
dedicated to Udham Singh operates on Soho Road, Birmingham.
A museum dedicated
to Udham Singh is located in Amritsar, near Jallianwala Bagh.
Udham Singh weapon, a knife, his diary, and a bullet from the shooting are kept
in the Black Museum of Scotland Yard.
Udham Singh
has been the subject of a number of films: Jallianwala Bagh (1977), Shaheed
Uddham Singh (1977), and Shaheed Uddham Singh (2000).
Udham Singh
Nagar district in Uttarakhand is named after Singh.
Udham Singh
is the subject of the 1998 track "Assassin" by Asian Dub Foundation.
Shaheed
Udham Singh Chowk in Anupgarh
The day of
his death is a public holiday in Punjab and Haryana.
Udham Singh
is the subject of the 2015 music video and tracks "Frank Brazil" by
The Ska Vengers.
A 10 feet tall statue of Udham Singh was installed by International Sarv Kamboj Samaj at
the main entrance of Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar on 13 March 2018. The statue
was unveiled by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Ji.
