I'm actually astonished I'd never learned this before.
best known for his assassination in London of Michael O'Dwyer, the former lieutenant governor of the Punjab in India, on 13 March 1940. The assassination was done in revenge for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919, for which O'Dwyer was responsible. Singh was subsequently tried and convicted of murder and hanged in July 1940. While in custody, he used the name Ram Mohammad Singh Azad, which represents the three major religions of Punjab and his anti-colonial sentiment
that is pretty fucking cool
Speech he gave after receiving his death sentence:
"I say down with British Imperialism. You say India do not have peace. We have only slavery Generations of so called civilisation 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. The brutality and blood thirsty way in which the so called intellectuals who call themselves rulers of civilisation in the world are bastard blood . . ."
At this point he was interrupted by the judge, but after some discussion he continued:
"I do not care about sentence of death. It means nothing at all. I do not care about dying or anything. I do not worry about it at all. I am dying for a purpose.’ Thumping the rail of the dock, he exclaimed, ‘We are suffering from the British Empire.’ Udham Singh continued more quietly. ‘I am not afraid to die. I am proud to die, to have to free my native land and I hope that when I am gone, I hope that in my place will come thousands of my countrymen to drive you dirty dogs out; to free my country. "I am standing before an English jury. I am in an English court. You people go to India and when you come back you are given a prize and put in the House of Commons. We come to England and we are sentenced to death.’
"I never meant anything; but I will take it. I do not care anything about it, but when you dirty dogs come to India there comes a time when you will be cleaned out of India. All your British Imperialism will be smashed. 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.’
"Your conduct, your conduct – I am talking about the British government. 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. You people are suffering – workers. Everyone are suffering through these dirty dogs; these mad beasts. India is only slavery. Killing, mutilating and destroying – British Imperialism. People do not read about it in the papers. We know what is going on in India."
At this point the judge refused to hear any more, but Singh continued:
"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.
He then thrust his glasses back into his pocket, and exclaimed three words in Hindustani and then shouted:
'Down with British Imperialism! Down with British dirty dogs!"
He turned to leave the dock, spitting across the solicitor’s table.
the dude bought a revolver in a bar and, then days later, walked up to his target and shot him in the heart, killing him instantly
damn
smart not to try to make sure he knew why it was happening and open the door to failure
If you belive in an afterlife, you know they will find out.
Saying why the assassination is happening is for your own personal satisfaction.
All you kids being like "I'm 20 and I haven't accomplished anything"
Be like Udham, follow your dreams no matter how long they take--keep practicing guitar, keep drawing, keep adopting hamsters
I feel like everyone here hates boogaloos, but what's the consensus on boogaloo spawn/adjacents?
My family is Sikh, and this warms my heart: comrade Udam fights against the stereotype of Punjabi cops/landlords/chuds. 🙏🏽
If it makes you feel better, that's not my stereotype of Sikhs. I tend to think of them as pretty cool folks, who feed the needy. But there's few Sikhs near me (rural Midwest), my main exposure has been hearing of their temples feeding lots of people.
Thanks! The Sikh religion is pretty cool as far as they go and I have a soft spot for the North American diaspora. Strange that Sikh Sardars tend to be Chuds within the context of India’s modern class system. Not to mention they policed Britain’s east asia colonies.
Oh, I didn't know that about policing the East Asia colonies, although it makes sense given their position within the Empire. I love learning new stuff like that :)
Damn. I learned about Jallianwala Bagh massacre in high school (in India) but never learned about this
In 1974, Singh's remains were exhumed and repatriated to India at the request of MLA Sadhu Singh Thind. Thind accompanied the remains back to India, where the casket was received by Indira Gandhi, Shankar Dayal Sharma and Zail Singh. 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.
Awesome
I'm curious, do you have any guesses as to why you weren't taught about him?
I don't think it was intentionally omitted. In 10th grade we learned about the entire Indian Independence movement, from 1857 to 1947. Lots of material to cover
Oh wow, when you put it like that that does make a lot of sense.
