Sir, April 22 -- History of freedom movement in India tells that most Indians were sly, sycophants' (to quote mahatma' Gandhi). Yet, a few lodestones like Udham Singh illuminate tomes of freedom movement. The Sunam-born Ghadar Party revolutionary Udham Singh shot dead Sir Michael O'Dwyer, former lieutenant governor of British Punjab, in a meeting of the East Indian Association at Caxton Hall in London ('Assassin shoots minister, kills knight'. UK's Daily Mirror March 14, 1940). After a hasty trial, Singh was executed in Pentonville Prison, London, on July 31, 1940. For fear of annoying Britain, India is yet to recognise him as a freedom fighter.
Dwyer's team of over 50 soldiers fired 1,650 rounds, before running out of ammunition. They wer...