Thread by @sheshapatangi1

A long and important read.
#SardarUdhamSingh
The HISTORY of a warrior who waited 21 years to take revenge for JallianwalaBagh Massacre.
Before Reading Further, Let Me 1st Introduce, How Gandhi & Nehru Responded when Udham Singh took revenge...
Although almost all Bharatiyas

regarded Singh's actions as a response to some brutal aspects of British colonial rule, officially, his actions were deplored and condemned in India, with Gandhi referring to Singh's 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 judgement.".
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."
(Both statements

appeared on 15th March 1940 in Harijan & NH respectively)

On this day, 31st July, 1940, Sardar Udham Singh was hanged at Pentonville jail, London.
A small tribute for an icon in Bharatiya Svatantrya Sangram.
Udham Singh was born as Sher Singh on 26 December 1899 at Punjab,

After his father's death, Singh and his elder brother, Mukta Singh, were taken in by the Central Khalsa Orphanage 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.
The massacre at Jallianwala Bagh in 1919 was deeply engraved in the mind of the future martyr.
If it was the Jallianwala Bagh massacre which provided the turning point of his life which led him to avenge the dead, it was Bhagat Singh who provided

him with the inspiration to pursue the path of revolutionary struggle.
In 1924, Udham Singh became involved with the Ghadar Party, subsequently Udham travelled to Africa, the US and Europe, organising Bharatiyas overseas towards overthrowing colonial rule.
In 1927, he returned

to Bharat 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 & sentenced to 5 years in prison.
Upon his release from prison in 1931, Singh's movements were under constant surveillance by the Punjab police. He made his way to Kashmir, where he was able to evade the police & escape to Germany.

In 1934, he reached London, where he found employment as an engineer. Privately, he formed plans to assassinate Michael O'Dwyer, the former Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab who had approved of the action of Brigadier-General R.E.H. Dyer at Jallianwala Bagh.
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 at Caxton Hall, London. 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, Singh shot O'Dwyer twice as he moved towards the speaking platform. One of these bullets passed through Dwyer's heart & right lung, killing him almost instantly.
In a statement given on March 13th, 1940 he said:
'I just shot to make protest.

I have seen people starving In India under British Imperialism. I done it, the pistol went off three or four times. I am not sorry for protesting. It was my duty to do so. Put some more. Just for the sake of my country to protest. I do not mind my sentence. Ten, twenty, or fifty

years or to be hanged. I done my duty.'
On 04th April, 1940, in the trial, Sardar Udham Singh roared in court,
'I don't care, I don't mind dying. What Is the use of waiting till you get old? This Is no good. You want to die when you are young. That is good, that Is what I am

doing'.
After a pause he added:
'I am dying for my country'.
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 full 21 years, I have been trying to seek vengeance. I am

happy that I have done the job.
What greater honour could be bestowed on me than death for the sake of my motherland?
Facing the Judge, he exclaimed, 'I say down with British Imperialism. You say India do not have peace. We have only slavery. Generations of so called

civilization has brought for 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 of bastard blood.'
'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.'
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 with the workers of England. I am against the Imperialist Government.'
MR. JUSTICE ATKINSON: I am not going to hear any more.
UDHAM SINGH: You do not want to listen to any more because you

are tired of my speech, eh? I have a lot to say yet.
THE JUDGE: I am not going to hear any more of that statement.
UDHAM SINGH: 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 what you are doing in India.
Thrusting his

glasses back into his pocket, Udham Singh exclaimed three words in Hindustani and then shouted, Down with British Imperialism! Down with British dirty dogs!'
As he turned to leave the dock, Udham Singh spat across the solicitor's table.
After Singh had left the dock, the Judge

turned to the Press and said:
'I give a direction to the Press not to report any of the statement made by the accused in the dock. You understand, members of the press?'
The Speech was made public in 1996.
Sardar Udham Singh was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

On 31 July 1940, Udham Singh was hanged at Pentonville Prison.
In 1974, Singh's remains were exhumed and repatriated to Bharat at the request of MLA Sadhu Singh Thind. Thind accompanied the remains back to India, where the casket was received by Indira Gandhi, S D Sharma

& Zail Singh.
Sardar 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.

#ForgottenHeroes
#VANDEMATARAM