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Today in Indian History (26th December): Udham Singh Was Born


Today is 125th birth anniversary of  Udham Singh, an Indian freedom fighter with association with Ghadar Party, a political movement founded by expatriate Indians to overthrow British rule in India. 

Born on 26th December in Sunam Village in Sangrur district of the north-western Indian state of Punjab, Udham Singh is known for avenging the infamous Jalianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar by murdering Michael O’Dwyer after 21 years.

Michael O’Dwyer , who was the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in 1919 when Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, the military commander of Amritsar, had ordered the firing on the innocent people who have gathered here to protest the arrest of Congress leaders Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. Satya Pal under Rowlatt Act.

1919 soldiers of the British Army in India had opened fire on the crowd in a walled public garden and killed over 1,000 of them. This became known variously as the Amritsar Massacre or the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The bloodbath was endorsed by Michael O’Dwyer who had called it “correct action”.

On 13 March 1940, Udham Singh shot O’Dwyer at London's Caxton Hall where he was attending a meeting of the East India Association and the Royal Central Asian Society. O’Dwyer was killed instantly 

He was tried  and sentenced to death by hanging. V K  Krishna Menon who was India's defence minister during the Indo Sino War in 1962,  was part of Udham Singh's defence team. He was executed on 31 July at Pentonville Prison, where he was also buried. In 1974, his body was repatriated to India and cremated in his home village of Sunam in the Sangrur district of Punjab. He was born on December 26th, 1899. 


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