SHAHEED-E-AZAM SARDAR UDHAM SINGH
(Smiling Udham singh leaving
the Caxton Hall after his arrest)
Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Udham Singh killer of Sir Michael O' Dwyer was born
on 26th December1889 at village Sunam (now Sunam Udham Singh Wala) Distt
Sangroor of Patiala Princely State. His parents Sardar Tehal Singh &
Sardarni Harnam Kour were convert to Sikhism on the initiation of Sardar Dhanna
Singh Ji an overseer in irrigation Department. Before baptismal( Amritpan) Sardar Tehal and
sardarni Harnam Kour were named as Shri Chuhar Ram and Shrimati Narayana Devi .
They are reported to be residents of
village Patiali of Etta Nagar in Utter Pradesh. One author has
written that Chuhar Ram was resident of Kanpur Janpad in UP. Shri Chuhar Ram
came from Jammu (Jammu clan is of Kamboj
lineage in Chamars) Chamars are
of an important shudra ( Untouchable
or Ati Shudra) caste having religious
linkage with Guru Ravi Das. Guru Ravi Dass (1414-1540AD) born near Banaras, a highest religious seat of Hindus
and was a saint of highest spiritual order. The Chuhar Ram couple was from
seasonal migratory labour class. They used to
come to Punjab as poor labourers
along with others to work inagriculture farms and for brick kiln owners. In 1880
Chuhar Ram migrated from village Patiali (UP) to Sunam in Patiala State
of Punjab. Shri Chuhar Ram and Shrimati
Narayana Devi worked at Neelowal 3 miles (5 Kms) from Sunam with Irrigation
Canal Overseer Sardar Dhanna Singh. Shri
Chuhar Ram and his wife a pious couple worked with great zeal, dedication and honesty, so Sardar Dhanna Singh himself a
devout religious person developed affection for them. This religious attachment
of theirs influenced Shri Chuhar Ram’s
to become a devoted(Shajdhari) Sikh.
When Sh. Chuhar Ram couple again came to Sunam for work,
they were received with affection by Sardar Dhanna Singh , his wife Sardarni
Maan Kour and their daughter Maya Kour. Shri Chuhar Ram his wife took Amrit & become regular Sikhs with
new names as Sardar Tehal Singh & Sardarni
Harnam Kour. Kind hearted Sardar
Dhanna Singh through his relation Sardar Chanchal Singh Sunami got engaged
Sardar Tehal Singh as a Railway Gateman
at Uppali Railway Station, 5 miles from Sunam. So Sardar Tehal Singh started
living at Sunam in a small house where Shaheed Udham Singh was born as second
male to Sardar Tehal Singh & Sardarni Harnam Kour. Their elder son was
Mukha Singh. Their second son was named as Sher Singh, whowas later renamed as
Udham Singh.
As ill luck both Sardarni
Harnam Kour & Sardar Tehal Singh died with in a span of one year leaving both their sons
aged 10 & 5 years as orphans. Sardar Chanchal Singh looked after both boys
for 2 years & then got them admitted in Central Khalsa Ram Bagh Orphanage near Putligarh
Amritsar on24th October, 1907. Sardar Sohan Singh in charge of this orphanage was son-in-law of Sardar Dhanna Singh. So
Mukha Singh & Sher Singh newly admitted boys got homely care under Sardarni
Maya Kour ( S. Dhana Singh’s daughter) and her orphanage in charge husband. The
boys were given new names Mukha singh as
Sadhu Singh & Sher Singh as Udham Singh. Pandit Jai Chand a cook of orphanage a
revolutionary himself, taught the
children of orphanage how to become
revolutionary and this teaching
influenced the young mind of Udham Singh too. Simplicity, hard work,
truthfulness and bravery of Udham influenced Smt. Kamla Rani the wife of Pandit Jai Chand & Sardarni Maya Kour, so
both ladies gave him motherly affection. In about 1913 Sadhu Singh went with
Sadhus never to return again, so left Udham Singh alone in this world. Sadhu
Singh is reported to have died in 1917.
Udham Singh passed his matriculation Examination in 1919 and
left the orphanage there after. By then
he had gained expertise in furniture making, driving, wrestling and music . He
won many wrestling matches from important wrestlers. By the side of the
orphanage he started working in a shop as furniture making worker. This shop
was a secret centre for planning revolutionary activities by the then known Karantikaries(
Revolutionary Freedom fighter) Here
Udham Singh met main revolutionary leaders
Sardar Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru, and Sukhdev.
The Rowlatt Act 1914 gave many powers to colonial government
including arresting and detaining any body without trial. This was widely
opposed in India. On April 13, 1919, over twenty thousand unarmed Indians,
mainly Dalit and Dalit Sikhs,
peacefully assembled in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, to listen to several
prominent local leaders speak out against British colonial rule in India and
against the arrest and deportation of Dr. Satya Pal, Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew,
and few others under this unpopular Rowlatt Act. Udham Singh and his mates from
the orphanage were serving water to the crowd on a warm summer afternoon. A
band of 90 soldiers armed with rifles and
Kukries or Khukhris (short swords) marched to the park accompanied by
two armored cars with mounted machine guns. The vehicles were unable to enter
the Bagh owing to the narrow entrance. Brigadier-General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer was in command of
45th Infantry Brigade at Jalandhar, arrived in Amritsar. He immediately
established file facto army rule, though the official proclamation to this
effect was not made until 15 April. The troops at his disposal included 475
British and 710 Indian soldiers. On 12 April he issued an order prohibiting all
meetings and gatherings. On 13 April which marked the Baisakhi festival, a
large number of people, mostly Sikhs, had poured into the city from the
surrounding villages. Local leaders called upon the people to assemble for a
meeting in the Jallianwala Bagh at 4.30 in the evening. The troops had entered
the Bagh by about 5:15 PM. With no
warning to the crowd to disperse, Dyer ordered his troops to open fire,
concentrating especially on the areas where the crowd was thickest Among the
gathering were three brave Dalits namelly Bhudha Singh,Mangil Singh &
Dhulia Singh Dhobies (Washer men) challenged General Dyer to shoot them
first, as they were not afraid of his
bullets. General Dyer fired bullets which pierced through their chests. There
after the attack lasted ten minutes. Since there was only one exit not barred
by soldiers, people tried to climb the walls of the park. Some also jumped into
a well inside the compound to escape the bullets. A plaque in the monument says
that 120 bodies were plucked out of the well alone.
By the time the smoke cleared, hundreds of people had been
killed and thousands injured. Official estimates put the figures at 379 killed
(337 men, 41 boys and a six week old baby) and 200 injured, but other reports
estimated the deaths well over 1,000 and possibly 1,300. According to Pandit
Madan Mohan Malaviya and Lala Girdhari Lal, the deaths were more than 1,000.
Swami Shardanand places the figure at more than 1,500Dr Smith, Civil Surgeon of
Amritsar, gives an even larger number: 1,800 dead. The casualty figures were
never fully ascertained for political reasons. The wounded could not be moved
from where they had fallen, as a curfew had been declared. Debate about the
actual figures continues to this day. Official figures say that 1,650 rounds of
ammunition had been used.
Udham Singh, an eye witness of this massacre saw it from a
tree top, where he had climbed to listen the leaders. Udham Singh mainly held
Michael O'Dwyer (1864-1940) then Punjab Governor, responsible for what came to
be known as the Amritsar Massacre. New research supporting this fact reveals
the massacre to have occurred with the Governor's full connivance "to
teach the Indians a lesson, to make a wide impression and to strike terror
through-out Punjab" The incident had greatly shaken young Udham Singh and
proved a turning point in his life. After bathing in the holy Amritsar sarovar
( Religiously pool of nectar), Udham Singh took a silent vow and solemn
pledge in front of the Golden Temple to wreak a vengeance on the perpetrators
of the crime and to restore honour to what he saw as a humiliated nation.
Sardar Gurnam Singh
Mukatsar (Writer Of Hindi Book Jhooth Na Bol Pande) writes at page 283 that it
was the gathering of Dalit Sikhs devotees, whose Deg ( Cooked sweet food say
Halwa) was not allowed to be distributed to devotees in Darbar Sahib Amritsar
by Upper Caste converted Sikh Granthi Aroor Singh. These Dalit Sikhs along with Army Jawans( Soldiers) belonging
to low Castes decided to gather in Jallianwala Bagh to protest against insult inflicted upon them
by Granthi of their faith. This
Aroor Singh instigated General Dyer telling him the Dalit were going to hold a
big protest against British Crown there
by creating Law and order problems. So General Dyer decided to teach lesson to
the protestors. General Dyer was later presented a Saroopa (Honoring in a
Sikhism Religious Style to a person for some
highly praise worthy work). Also KambojSociety.com, #640, Sector: 69,
S.A.S. Nagar (Mohali), Punjab - 160062, India claims that this incident of
honouring General Dyer later resulted in formation of “The All India Sikh League as a
representative body of the Panth for political action”. This ultimately culminated in formation of the Gurdwara Reform movement , 1920-25.
Some Sikh servicemen, resenting the policy of non-violence adopted by the
leaders of the Alkali movement, resigned from the army and constituted the
nucleus of an anti-British terrorist group known as Babar Alkalis. Any way General Dyer was responsible for the
massacre of innocent Indians.
After the massacre Udham Singh found wailing Shrimati Rattana Devi to find
the dead body of her husband who was killed in the shoot out. Udam Singh
consoled Rattana Devi, got traced the dead body of her husband from the heap of
dead persons and adopted Widow Smt Rattana Devi as his step sister. Udham Singh
promised her to take revenge for death of her husband. He left Amritsar on 22 April 1919 and reached
Baramula town of Kashmir State, where he worked in a furniture shop for some
time & in October 1919 returned to his village Sunam. In sunam he killed a
wild wolf, which had created terror in the area and had killed many animals
besides a few children. Sunam Residents offered him shelter and help with
requests to make Sunam his permanent abode, to which he denied, as he had
different goals in his mind. In November 1919 he returned to Amritsar. At that
time he joined a group of labourers and reached South Africa in November 1919
itself and engaged himself in organizing meeting to oppose British Crown of
India. From here he set for America in a ship while serving as a coal Charge
man to ship boiler and reached America in 1920. He met Lala Hardayal chief of
Gaddar Party and learnt the art of making Bullets & got training in shooting.
From here on the advice of Lala Hardayal he went to England with the sole
objective of killing General Dyer, who had retired and had returned to London.
But General Dyer died of paralysis in 1927. Governer Punjab Michael O'Dwyer was
called back to London, which became the
target of Uham Singh, to fulfill his vow to take revenge for Amritsar
Massacre of 13th April,1919.
In London Udham Singh met twice Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar in
India Office Library and on the advise of Dr Ambedkar, Udham Singh joined
Engineering courses. Dr Ambedkar advised Udham Singh to get equipped with
higher education in London. In London Udham Singh met a German Lady Miss Merry,
who promised him all help including financial help. When Dr. Ambedkar left for
Bonn to study Sanskrit, Udham Singh returned to India in 1923 on call from
Bhagat Singh, to whom Udham Singh called his Guru. Miss Merry also accompanied
him and she was introduced to all known to Udham Singh.
In India at Lahore he joined National College of Lala Lajpat
Rai and passed his F.A ( now 10+2) in
1923 there after joined B.A. classes. This college was a training centre for
the revolutionaries and Bhagat Singh too was a student there. He worked as
teacher along with Sargar Bhagat singh
in the National School Kher Aligarh. Udam Singh went to Kanpur, again to
Lahore and then to London for the Second time. He along with Miss Merry
traveled across the Globe and went to Russia, France, Abyssinia, Scylia,
Charybdis, Egypt, Island of White, Vikar of Bay etc. where he kept himself engaged
in Revolutionary activities. In 1927 he returned to Lahore again on message
from Bhagat Singh. He was not prepared to return to India with out
accomplishing his set goal, but Miss Merry convinished him by advancing argument that Bhagat Singh might
have some plan to make Udham ‘s work easy or some more urgent job might had
been set for him. Udham Singh brougt with him four persons, explosive material,
some pistols and ammunition besides Miss Merry his most confident person.
Udham Singh continued to work for the set goal and kept
close contact with other revolutionary persons. He was caught with loaded
pistol No 85869 and sentenced for five years from 28 Sept1928 to 23 Sept 1932
in central Jail Multan and Rawalpindi. Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru & Sukhdev to
avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai of
shoot down JP Sanders and this
news was received by Udham singh on 17 Dec.1928 in jail ,when he said “Brother,
you have full filled your promise, where as my vow is yet unfulfilled, you are
great” After releasing from Jail, he went to Peshawer, then to Sunam and also
to Jammu. From Jammu he went to Kashmir on foot in the disguise of a sadhu.
Here he came in contact with Sardar Swarn Singh, Justice Dan Singh and others and worked as labourer in the
furniture shop of Faquiria. Udham Singh also went to Amar Nath as a Sadhu.
In1933 he along with Miss Merry went to London and lived for
some time in Shephard Bush Gurudwara. He worked as a taxi driver too for the
taxi of Shephard Bush Gurudwara. Udham Singh
worked as demestic driver to Sir Michael O'Dwyer in Devons Shire U.K. and used to carry Dyer’s
daughter Miss Golde to college so he under stood all lanes and surroundings of
Dyer’s house . Udham Singh had earned the confidence of Miss Golde & other
family members, from whom he collected house secrets and circumstances which
had prompted Sir Michael O’Dwyer to order firing inJalianwala Bagh. He left the
service of driver to Sir Michael O' Dwyer
but continued his revolutionary activities by meeting other
revolutionaries. Golde is said to have tried to gained nearness to Udham Singh
but timely reminding him, his solemn pledge by Miss Merry, he again started
vigorously concentrating on his set goal
On 12 th March 1940
Udham Singh got Laddos ( Indian Sweet,)
from the Indian restaurant through Balbir Singh another revolutionary
and distributed among his colleagues. Every body thought that Udham Singh
has finalised his bride-to-be to marry
her. On enquiry he said he has been already married to the cause of his mother
land and every body shall know through news papers tomorrow the cause of his
happiness.At last, the opportunity came on 13 March 1940, almost 21 years after
the Jallianwala Bagh killings: After
praying in Shephard Bush Gurudwara and taking Parsad from the Granthi, he came
back to home and then reached Caxton
Hall. A joint meeting of the East India Association and the Royal Central Asian
Society was scheduled at Caxton Hall, and among the speakers was Michael
O'Dwyer. Udham Singh concealed his
revolver in a book specially cut for the purpose and managed to enter Caxton
Hall. He took up his position against the wall. At the end of the meeting, the
gathering stood up and O'Dwyer moved towards the platform to talk to Lord
Zetland. Udham Singh pulled his revolver and fired. O'Dwyer was hit twice and
died immediately. Again Udham Singh fired at Lord Zetland (1876-1961, then
secretary of State for India), the Secretary of State for India, injuring him
but not seriously. Incidentally, Sir Luis Dane was hit by one shot, which broke
his radius bone and dropped him to the ground with serious injuries. A bullet
also hit Lord Lamington(1896-1951), whose right hand was shattered. If planned
earlier Udham Singh could have escaped but
did not intend to escape. So he
was arrested on the spot.
Back in India, there was a strong reaction to this
assassination. While the Congress-controlled English speaking press of India
condemned Singh's action in general terms, independents like Amrit Bazar
Patrika and New Statesman took different views. In its March 18, 1940 issue,
Amrit Bazar Patrika wrote, "O'Dwyer's name is connected with Punjab
incidents which India will never forget". The most telling reaction came
from the common man on the street who hailed Udham Singh as a hero and patriot.
Indians all over regarded Singh's action as justified and an important step in
India's struggle to end British colonial rule in India
As never expected but unfortunately, in a statement to the
Press, Mahatama Gandhi had condemned the Caxton Hall shooting saying that
"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". A week later,
Harijan, Gandhi’s newspaper further wrote: "We had our differences with Michael
O'Dwyer but that should not prevent us from being grieved over his
assassination. We have our grievances against Lord Zetland. We must fight his
reactionary policies, but there should be no malice or vindictiveness in our
resistance. The accused is intoxicated with thought of bravery Pt Jawahar Lal
Nehru wrote in his National Herald: "Assassination is regretted but it is
earnestly hoped that it will not have far-reaching repercussions on political
future of India. Most of the press worldwide remembered the story of Jallianwala
Bagh and held Michael O'Dwyer fully responsible for the events. Singh was
called "fighter for freedom" by The Times, London,
While in Police custody, Udham Singh remarked: "Is Zetland dead? He
ought to be. I put two into him right there" indicating with his hand the
pit of his stomach in left side. Udham
Singh remained quiet for several minutes and then again said: "Only one
dead eh'. I thought I could get more. I must have been too slow. There were a
lot of women about, you know"
Just after thirteen day of the Caxton Hall firing ,on 1 April 1940, Udham Singh was
formally charged with the murder of Michael O'Dwyer. On 4 June 1940, he was
committed to trial, at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, before Justice
Atkinson. When the court asked about his name, he replied "Ram Mohammad
Singh Azad", which Singh believed would demonstrate his transcendence of
race, caste, creed, and religion. Singh explained his actions to the court at
his trial:He did it because he had a grudge against him. He deserved
it.Atkinson sentenced him to death.
On 31st July 1940, Udham Singh was hanged at Pentonville
Prison. As with other executed prisoners, he was buried later that afternoon
within the prison grounds. In March 1940, Indian National Congress leaders, including
Jawahar Lal Nehru and Mahatama Gandhi, condemned the action of Udham Singh as
senseless, but in 1962, Nehru did an about-turn and applauded Singh with the
following statement in the daily Partap: "I salute Shaheed-e-Azam Udham
Singh with reverence who had kissed the noose so that we may be free.".
In July 1974, Udham Singh's remains were exhumed and
repatriated to India at the request of S. Sadhu Singh Thind an MLA from
Sultanpur Lodhi at that time. He asked Indira Gandhi to force the then British
Government to hand over Udham Singh's remains to India. Sadhu Singh Thind
himself went to England as a special envoy of Indian Government and brought
back the remains of the Shaheed. He was given a martyr's reception. Among those
who received his casket at Delhi airport were Shankar Dayal Sharma, then
president of the Congress Party, and Zail Singh, then chief minister of Punjab,
both of whom later went on to become Presidents of India. Indira Gandhi, the
prime minister, also laid a wreath. He was later cremated in his birthplace of
Sunam in Punjab and his ashes were immersed in the Ganga river.
References :-
1.Savtantantra Sangram Ke Mahabalidani Udham Singh by
Dr.Rajpal Singh
Publishers -Raj Rajlaxmi Prakashan Brahmpuri Delhi-53
2. www.serchsikhism.com
3.Wikipedia
4.KambojSociety.com, and 4. Jhooth Na Bol PandeHindi Book by
Sardar Gurnam Singh Mukatsar Punjab
A stirring account of Udham Singh's life... well documented and detailed... it moved me very much. I am impressed by your research into Udham Singh. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteTalat Afroze, Lahore, Pakistan and now residing in Toronto.
(wwwDOTdareechahDOTcom)
May 26th 2012
thanks,see other essays also on Dalit vision
ReplyDeletePhonsa