#ShauryaStories: Remembering Shaheed-E-Azam Udham Singh, martyr who avenged the Jallianwala Bagh massacre

Sardar Udham Singh is one of the Bravehearts of the country known for avenging the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919. For those who don't know, it was in 1940 that Singh shot and killed Michael O'Dwyer, the colonial official considered responsible for Jallianwala Bagh, where over 1,000 men, women, and children lost their lives, and more than were 1,200 wounded.

Who was Udham Singh? 

Shaheed-E-Azam Udham Singh was born in Punjab's Sangrur district in 1899 and was a political activist associated with the Ghadar Party while in the US. Headquartered in California, the party was committed to the ouster of the British from India. In 1934, Singh made his way to London to assassinate O'Dwyer, who in 1919 had been the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab.

On March 13, 1940, Udham Singh shot O'Dwyer at a meeting of the East India Association and the Royal Central Asian Society at Caxton Hill. He was immediately arrested and held in Brixton prison. At the prison, Singh staged a 36-day hunger strike and in police statements and at the court referred to himself as Mohamed Singh Azad. He was sentenced to death and was hanged on July 31, 1940, at Pentonville Prison. In 1974, his remains were sent back to India and he was cremated in his village in Sunam.

Biopic on Sardar Udham Singh

Sardar Udham Singh, a biopic of Udham Singh was officially announced on 4 March 2019, starring Vicky Kaushal and directed by Shoojit Sircar, who called it his dream project. The film was wrapped up on December 27, 2019, in Europe. The film also stars Banita Sandhu.