Today is Jayanti of Udham Singh, the man who assasinated General O Dwyer, responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the atrocities that followed, a true hero.
His real name was Sher Singh, born on Dec 26, 1899, to a poor peasant family in Punjab’s Sangrur district. His father, Tehl Singh, worked as a railway gate keeper at a level crossing in the Uppali village of Punjab.
Having lost both his parents when he was small, he along with his brother Mukta Singh, grew up in the Central Khalsa Orphanage in Amritsar. Following the Sikh initiation rites, he got the name of Udham Singh.
In 1919, he left the orphanage after passing the matriculation exam. In that year Punjab was in turmoil, with massive protests breaking out against the British rule.
Around 1500 Indian civilians, in Amritsar, protesting against the deportation of nationalist leaders, Dr.Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satyapal Dang, were brutally massacred at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. While Gen Dyer led the carnage, he was backed by the Lt. Governor O’Dwyer.