Udham Singh the Brave heart who avenged Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

Anupama Nair

www.mediaeyenews.com

In the last parts, I spoke about Jallianwala Bagh Massacre and who Udham Singh was. Now read more… 

On the day of the conference, Singh who had hid a revolver in his overcoat sneaked into Caxton Hall and shot O’Dwyer twice as he moved from the platform after the meeting concluded. He did not try to flee or resist arrest and was immediately taken into custody. During his trial, Udham Singh gave his name as Mohammad Singh Azad, which was tattooed on his arm, “as a symbol that all religions in India were united in their opposition against British rule”. Udham Singh openly confessed his crime and wrote that “I killed him because I hated him. That’s what he deserved. I do not belong to any society. I’m not with anyone”. He was convicted and sentenced to death, and he was hanged on July 31, 1940 at London’s Pentonville Prison and buried within the prison grounds.

“I say down with British Imperialism. You say India do 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”, was his most famous speech at the time of trial.

For avenging the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, he is seen by many as a hero in India. But M.K. Gandhi, thought Singh’s revenge as an “act of insanity”. However, Singh had some support from the international press. The Times of London called him a  “fighter for freedom”, and his actions “an expression of the pent-up fury of the downtrodden Indian people”. Bergeret from Italy hailed Singh's action as brave. At first Nehru condemned the action of Singh as senseless, but, in 1962, he reversed his stance and applauded Singh with the following statement “I salute Shaheed-e-Azam Udham Singh with reverence who had kissed the noose so that we may be free.”

Many years after his death in 1974, Singh’s remains were exhumed and sent to India before being cremated at his birthplace in Punjab. His ashes were then scattered in the Sutlej river, the same river in which the ashes of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev had been scattered in 1931.

There have been several demands in the past few years for Udham Singh’s statue to be installed in Jallianwala Bagh and in the Parliament complex. In July 2018, Punjab MP Prem Singh Chandumajra demanded that his portrait be put in Parliament. His statue was installed at Jallianwala Bagh during Baisakhi. A museum dedicated to Singh is located in Amritsar, near Jallianwala Bagh.

Singh's ancestral house, in Sunam, has been converted into a museum. Thirty letters and other objects are on display in the museum. The official name of his ancestral town, Sunam, is changed to Sunam Udham Singh Wala. Punjab Restaurant, in Covent Garden, London has Udham Singh's portrait in his memory. Udham Singh Nagar district in Uttarakhand is named after him. His weapon, a knife, his diary, and a bullet from the shooting are kept in the Black Museum of Scotland Yard. There is a charity dedicated to Singh on Soho Road, Birmingham.

A ‘brave heart’ who sacrificed his life to avenge his motherland, his tale has only grown with time, with his story being covered in several Punjabi movies. Singh has been the subject of a number of films like Jallianwala Bagh, Shaheed Uddham Singh in 1977 and 2000. On Singh’s 75^th death anniversary in 2015, Indian band Ska Vengers honored him by releasing an animated music video on his life, called ‘Frank Brazil’. There are many rumors that Ranveer Singh has been approached to play Singh’s role in ace filmmaker Shoojit Sircar’s next film.

Interestingly, Singh has also been mentioned in Salman Rushdie’s novel, Shalimar the Clown when the character of Zainab Azam (in the novel) says, “For every O’Dwyer there is a Shaheed Udham Singh, and for every Trotsky, a Mercador awaits”.

What a brave man he was. It is the effort of such people, that we are free today.