Udham Singh & Balgangadhar Tilak Death Anniversary: The last day of the month of July and the first day of August are memorable days for the Indian people as both days are the death anniversary of Shaheed Udham Singh and Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak respectively.

85th Death Anniversary of unforgotten Freedom Fighter Udham Singh

• Udham Singh is remembered for his courage and determination.
• He survived in the Sikh orphanage.
• He was born on 26 December 1899 in Sunam near Sangrur (Punjab).

The revolutionary freedom fighter Udham Singh was given the capital punishment for the assassination of General Michael O’Dwyer, who was the main factor behind the Jallianwala bagh incident.

The Freedom Fighter with many Names

He was initially named as Sher Singh by his parents but with the passage of time and location, he kept changing his name.

He was prominently famous with Ram Mohammed Singh Azad because it was tattooed on his arm and this name was taken by him while in custody after the assassination of General Michael O’ Dwyer. He kept his contact with other freedom fighters, was majorly influenced by Bhagat Singh.

Story behind making of Udham Singh

On 13th April, 1919 multitude of 20000 people were protesting calmly against the detaining of Satyapal and Saifuddin Kitchlew under Rowlatt Act. At that prevailing time General Michael O’ Dwyer was the Governer of Punjab.

Udham Singh and his friends were also present in the park and they were serving water to the people. Bolt out of blue General O ‘Dwyer reached the park with 100 soldiers and without any warning, he gave orders to shoot innocent people and because of that 379 people were killed according to report.

Udham Singh took oath to take revenge

This incident put a great impact on Udham Singh and he took oath to take revenge for this atrocity. For the sake of the completion of his oath he travelled through many countries eg. Africa, America and Brazil etc. Even he changed his name with the change in location.

He trailed to London for vengeance

To take revenge he ultimately reached London in 1934 and started living in elder street commercial road. Where he bought a car and a pistol with 6 bullets. And started waiting for the right time. Factually, we can say that it took almost 20 years for him to take revenge.

Aftermath on 13 March that opportunity fell in the lap of Udham Singh when he came to know about the assembly of “Royal Central Asian Society.” He reached the assembly with one book in his hand, he had cut the pages of the book to fit the gun inside it. At the end of the assembly, he took his gun out of the book and assassinated General Michael O’ Dwyer.

He was arrested immediately and the case was filed against him. During the trial days, he refused to eat for more than 40 days and he was forcibly made to eat. Ultimately on 31st July 1940, he was given capital punishment. This day is always remembered for his sacrifice.

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After the assassination of General Dwyer, he said that:

” I killed him because he was the real culprit of killing innocents and he deserved it and I don’t have any fear of death and I am proud to die for my motherland”.

Key points about Udham Singh

• He is remembered as Shaheed, a great fighter who had empathy for the innocent people who died in the Jallianwala incident.
• His remains are preserved at Jallianwala Bagh.
• The weapon he used in killing General Dwyer has been kept in a Black Museum, Scotland Yard. The weapons included a knife, a diary, and bullets.
• He has been honored with the title of Shaheed-i-Azam.

During paying homage to Udham Singh Punjab’s C.M capt. Amrinder Singh said:

“I join the nation in paying humble tribute to our great freedom fighter Shaheed-E-Azam Sardar Udham Singh Ji. His patriotism & sacrifice will continue to inspire generations of Indians”.

On his Punyatithi, I bow before the revolutionary freedom fighter Udham Singh, a man who avenged the killing of innocent Indians at Jallianwala Bagh! His spirit of nationalism and commitment towards his motherland keeps us inspiring! Work on his Memorial at Sunam is underway & will be completed within a year. Jai Hind!”

104th Death Anniversary of Bal Gangadhar Tilak

1st AUGUST 2020 , Today is the 100th death anniversary of most prominent leader of Indian national movement.

His efforts are impetus for us

His efforts and initiative for lighting the way towards Freedom through his initiatives of First national movements can’t be forgotten for what he did during his whole life wholeheartedly. He was the extreme leader who tried his best to bestow freedom to us.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the first leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The British colonial authorities called him “Father of the Indian unrest.”

• He was born as Keshav Gangadhar Tilak
• He was the first leader of India’s independence movement.
• First and the Strongest advocate of Swaraj (self -rule).
• He had made the collaboration with Lala Lajpat Rai, Vipin Chandra pal, Aurobindo Ghose, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah and many more.
• He was the one-third of the Lal-Bal-Pal, where LAL stands for Lala Lajpat Rai, BAL stands for Balgangadhar Tilak And Pal for Vipin Chandra Pal.

Biography

Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (prominent with Bal Gangadhar Tilak) was born on 1856 in Ratnagiri (near Mumbai). When Tilak was 16 years old his father died and he was coerced to marry to Tapibai. After his marriage, he did graduation and started teaching mathematics at a private school in Pune. With the change in time, he became interested in journalism and started taking interest in private affairs and stated that “Religion and practical life are not different.

His Quotes About the Nation

• “The real spirit is to make the country your family instead of working only for your own”.
• “The step beyond is to serve humanity and the next step is to serve God”.

Stern personality against Britishers

He was always opposite to British administration and many times imprisoned.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak started Swadeshi movement

He had joined the Indian National Congress in 1890. He had played a vital role in leading the Swadeshi movement. Under this movement, he persuaded the people to boycott Britishers and not to use their goods and to prefer native goods. It was the first-ever nationalist movement made by the Indians.

Tilak asked Gandhi Ji to give up non-violence

During his whole life, he tried to bestow self-rule to India, even he tried to convince Mohandas Gandhi to leave the idea of total nonviolence because Tilak thought that it would be more effective if radicals and moderate get integrated. He tried his best to integrate them but after enough efforts for the integration of two groups (Radicals and Moderates), he gave up and started focussing on home rule.

Six years of Jail for Tilak

In a series of articles in his Marathi newspaper Kesari, the nationalist Congress leader and journalist Bal Gangadhar Tilak condemned the use of violence, but wrote,

“The rulers who always exercise unrestrained power must remember that there is always a limit to the patience of humanity”. And so, “violence, however deplorable, became inevitable”.

Tilak was defending two Bengali men who, in April 1908, had thrown a bomb at a carriage to kill an unpopular British judge, but instead accidentally ended up killing two English women and he was imprisoned for 6 years in the case of incitement and sent to Mandalay (Myanmar) by the British administration.

After coming out from the jail Tilak had founded  ‘ All India home Rule league ‘ in 1916-18 with the collaboration of Annie Besant and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Tilak died on 1 August ,1920 at the age of 64 in Bombay.

Quotes of Bal Gangadhar Tilak

• “Our nation is like a tree of which original trunk is Swarajya and the branches are swadeshi and boycott.”
• “Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!”-
• “Freedom is my birthright. I must have it.”-
• “The problem is not the lack of resources or capability, but the lack of will.”
• “If God is put up with untouchability, I will not call him God”.
• “India is being bled till only the skeleton remains. ” ~
• “The poverty of India is wholly due to the present rule.”