Udham Singh

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Udham Singh ( Punjabi : ਊਧਮ ਸਿੰਘ, udham siṅgh ; * December 26, 1899 in Sunam in the Sangrur district , Punjab ; † July 31, 1940 in London ) was a symbol of the Indian liberation movement against British colonial rule . He is sometimes referred to as Shahid-e-Azam (English: 'King of Martyrs') in India .

Life

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There are no reliable sources, especially for the quote prior to his execution.

Early years

He came from a Sikh family. His mother died in 1901, his father Sardar Tehal Singh, employed by a railway company, in 1907. In 1917 his brother Sadhu Singh died.

Singh eyed the Amritsar massacre on April 13, 1919. He later emigrated to the United States , but returned to India in the 1920s. He was arrested for illegally possessing weapons and sentenced to four years in prison. He was released in 1931 and came under the influence of the revolutionaries around Bhagat Singh .

Udham Singh (2nd from left) is led out of Caxton Hall after O'Dwyer's murder

Assassination attempt and conviction

Singh shot and killed the Governor of Punjab Province, Michael O'Dwyer , on March 13, 1940 , when he was giving a speech at Caxton Hall in London to representatives of the East India Association and the Royal Central Asian Society. Singh did not try to escape and was arrested immediately. Udham Singh was charged for this act on April 1, convicted on June 5, and hanged in Pentonville Prison in London on July 31, 1940 . His letters to Shiv Singh Jauhal , written in prison, were later published.

During the trial he said:

“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 wreak 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 the British rule. I have protested against this, it was my duty. What a greater honor could be bestowed on me than death for the sake of my motherland? "

“I did it because I was angry with him. He deserved it. He was the real culprit. He wanted to break the spirit of my people, so I destroyed him. I tried to retaliate for a full 21 years. I'm glad I did the job. I am not afraid of death. I am dying for my country. I have seen my people in India starve under the British. I protested against it, that was my duty. What greater honor could I be given than to die for my motherland? "

- Udham Singh : before his execution

Repatriation of the corpse

In July 1974 Udham Singh was exhumed and his remains were returned to India. Shankar Dayal Sharma , President of the Congress Party, and Giani Zail Singh , Chief Minister of Punjab and later President of the Republic, received the coffin at New Delhi Airport . Prime Minister Indira Gandhi also honored Singh. Later, Singh's body was cremated in Sunam, Punjab, his birthplace, and his ashes were scattered in the Sutlej River.

Honors

A district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand is named in honor of Udham Singh. In Amritsar, the Shaheed Udham Singh Museum commemorates him and other revolutionaries.

In 2003 the name of his hometown Sunam was renamed Sunam Udham Singh Wala after him ( German : City of the Martyr Udham Singh )

Film adaptations

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ HO 144/21445 (CRIMINAL CASES: SINGH, Udham Convicted at Central Criminal Court (CCC) on June 5, 1940 for murder and sentenced to death). The National Archives , accessed April 13, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Shereen Ilahi: Imperial Violence and the Path to Independence: India, Ireland and the Crisis of Empire . 1st edition. Bloomsbury, 2016, ISBN 978-0-85772-706-0 , pp. 169 (English, eBook).
  3. ↑ TNN | Updated: Jul 31, 2003, 3:56 PM Is: Sunam to be named after Udham Singh | Chandigarh News - Times of India. Retrieved November 3, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Singh, Udham
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ram Mohammed Singh Azad, Sardar Udham Singh
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Symbolic figure of Indian history
DATE OF BIRTH December 26, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Sunam
DATE OF DEATH July 31, 1940
Place of death London