Punjab will raise issue of getting back Udham Singh’s pistol, diary with MEA: Amarinder Singh

On the 82nd martyrdom day of Udham Singh, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh said the ashes of the martyr were returned to India after 40 years that too with a great deal of effort.

Punjab Chief Minsiter Amarinder Singh at a function in Sunam in Punjab to commemorate the martyrdom of Shaheed Udham Singh on 31 July 2021 | Twitter/@capt_amarinder

Sangrur: Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday said the Punjab government will soon take up with the MEA the issue of bringing back from the UK the pistol and diary of Udham Singh, the revolutionary who was hanged for killing Michael O’Dwyer to avenge the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

On the sidelines of a state-level function here on the 82nd martyrdom day of Udham Singh, the chief minister said the ashes of the martyr were returned to India after 40 years that too with a great deal of effort.

The pistol of Udham Singh, with which he shot dead Lt. Governor of Punjab in British India Michael O’Dwyer, is in Scotland. The diary is also somewhere there, he said.

The chief minister on Saturday dedicated to the people the Shaheed Udham Singh Memorial.

Udham Singh was hanged at Pentonville Prison in London on July 31, 1940, for shooting dead O’Dwyer.

At least 400 people were killed and over 1,000 injured when Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered his troops to fire at unarmed civilians who had gathered at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919.

O’Dwyer was Punjab’s Lieutenant Governor when the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place.

The chief minister said the Government of India should take up this matter with the British High Commission so as to get these items back. These prized possessions of the legendary martyr will be kept in a museum here, Singh said.