Madan Lal Dhingra
"I believe that a nation held down by foreign bayonets is in a perpetual state of war. Since open battle is rendered impossible to a disarmed race, I attacked by surprise. Since guns were denied to me I drew forth my pistol and fired. Poor in health and intellect, a son like myself has nothing else to offer to the mother but his own blood. And so I have sacrificed the same on her altar. The only lesson required in India at present is to learn how to die, and the only way to teach it is by dying ourselves. My only prayer to God is that I may be re-born of the same mother and I may re-die in the same sacred cause till the cause is successful. Bande Matram!"
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These are the last words of the 22-year old Indian student of Engineering in London before going to the gallows on August 17, 1919 at Pentonville Prison, London, for killing Sir Curzon Wyllie, Political Aide-de-Camp to the Secretary of State for India, Lord Morley.
Please remeber his name because he worked for our country not for his own.Madan Lal was born in 1887 in a prosperous family of Punjab. His father, Sahib Ditta Mal, was a Civil Surgeon at the Civil Hospital in Gurdaspur and Hissar. On retirement, he settled at Amritsar where he held a huge property. A friend of the Britishers, he was given the title of 'Rai Sahib'. In 1906, Madan Lal was sent to England to join the University College, London, to study Mechanical Engineering.
During his stay in London he used to go to India House and there he came in contact with Veer Savarkar and Shyamji Krishna Verma, and the former administered him the oath of allegiance as a member of his Revolutionary Secret Society called "Abhinav Bharat Sanstha". He learnt shooting and decided to work for the liberation of his motherland. He prepared a list of all India-haters, the enemies of his motherland. He grabbed his very first opportunity.
On the evening of July 1, 1909, there was a function at the Jahangir House of the Institute of Imperial Studies, London. A large number of Indians and Englishmen had gathered to attend the Annual Day function of the Indian National Association. The music session was just over when Sir Curzon Wyllie entered the hall with his wife. Madan Lal Dhingra greeted him and fired five shots right in his face. Wyllie died without a shriek. Cowasji Lalkaka, a Parsee doctor who tried to save Sir Curzon, died of Madan Lal's sixth bullet, which he fired in self-defence because Lalkaka caught hold of him. Madan Lal stated in the court that he had no intention to kill Lalkaka and it was just accidental.
When someone in the crowd called him a 'murderer' he objected and said he was a patriot working for the emancipation of his motherland from the alien yoke. Betraying no fear or any sign of nervousness he said, "I am perfectly justified in what I have done. The English would have done the same had the Germans been in occupation of England".
Madan Lal made no effort to escape. He volunteered arrest. He was kept in police custody for seven days. Most of the time he was busy preparing the text of the statement he had to make in the court. In fact his most glorious moment was the trial at Old Bailey. On July 10 when the British magistrate asked him whether he wished to make any statement, Madan Lal brought out the text he had prepared and read it aloud in the court.
"I do not want to say anything in defence of myself but simply to prove the justification of my deed. As for myself I do not think any English law court has any authority to convict me or detain me in prison or to pass any sentence to me. And I maintain that if it is patriotic for any Englishman to fight against the Germans if they were to occupy this country, it is much more justifiable and patriotic in my case to fight against the English. I hold the English people responsible for the murder of eight million of my countrymen in the last 50 years. And they are also responsible for taking away 100 million pounds every year from India to this country. I also hold them responsible for the hanging and deportation of thousands of my countrymen."
Madan Lal was tried in Old Bailey Court on July 23. The decision to sentence him to death was taken in less than 20 minutes. It was also decided to hang him on August 17, 1909. Strangely enough it is not the job of the court to decide the date of hanging. The same mistake was committed in the mock trial of Bhagat Singh at Lahore by the military tribunal in 1931. There was no one to argue for Madan Lal Dhingra. He ignored the so-called trial. When the judge announced his judgement, he raised his voice and said, "I am proud to have the honour of laying down my life for my country. But remember we shall have our time in the days to come."
The Irish press hailed Madan Lal Dhingra as a hero. So did the Egyptian paper published from Cairo, La Patrrie Egyptienne. Mrs Annie Besant said, "More Madan Lals are the need of the time." Virendra Nath Chattopadhya started a monthly magazine in his memory. It was named 'Madan Talwar' and was printed by Madame Cama. Soon it became the mouthpiece of all revolutionaries abroad.
Hailing the heroism of Madan Lal Dhingra, Mr. V.S. Blunt, the British Member of Parliament and the author of "My Diaries" (1900-1914) stated, "No Christian martyr ever faced his judges more fiercely or with greater dignity than Dhingra."
'My Diaries' further reveal that both Mr. Lloyd George and Winston Churchill admired the heroism of Dhingra, his patriotism, particularly his last words before going to the gallows.
According to Lala Hardayal, the Indian revolutionary who founded the 'Ghadar Party' in USA, "Dhingra reminded me of the medieval Rajputs and the Sikhs who loved death like a bride whose bridegroom comes to take her away. England thinks she killed Dhingra, but in reality he lives forever, and has indeed given the death-blow to the English sovereignty in India."
Dhingra's request that his body be cremated according to Hindu rites was rejected. The British Government decided to bury his body like an ordinary unclaimed criminal. When Savarkar claimed Dhingra's body he was refused on the ground that he was not his relation. And all Dhingra's relations had disowned him. For a number of years Madan Lal's grave was declared "missing". However, during the digging of Shaheed Udham Singh's grave, Madan Lal's grave was accidentally found and his remains brought to India on 13 December, 1976.
Dhingra was the first youth leader of India. Bhagat Singh was inspired by two heroes: Dhingra and Kartar Singh Sarabha. Like Khudi Ram Bose before and Bhagat Singh later, Dhingra kissed the gallows with a smile on his face. His last wish was: "May I be re-born to the same Mother, and may I re-die in the same sacred cause till the cause is successful, and she stands free for the good of humanity and the glory of God." He was a trail-blazer of the freedom struggle of India who inspired Kartar Singh Sarabha, Chandrasekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose. VANDE MATRAM!!!
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