A True Tale of the Raj

 

By Ray Jones

The Patient Assassin, a true tale of massacre, revenge and the Raj: By Anita Anand, Simon & Schuster, 2019, £20.00 hbk

This is a history of the Amritsar Massacre of 1919 when British troops in India shot down over 600 peaceful demonstrators, without warning or order to disperse, and the life of Udham Singh who 20 years later had his revenge.
    It’s a fascinating story which begins and ends in the book with the botched execution of Udham in London in 1940, in which a young Albert Pierrepoint, latter to become Britain’s most famous (or rather infamous) hangman played a part. It’s a saga in which the author herself has a family connection as her grandfather missed being involved in the massacre by minutes and the emotional link comes through in the work.
    A very readable book full of interesting information, with vivid descriptions of people, events and cultures. The British Raj and Government come out badly, up to their necks in blood and lies – as you might expect. But sadly anti-imperialist forces, such as the Soviet Union and the communists, when they are mentioned at all, are seen from the perspective of the capitalist class. The author does not draw Marxist conclusions from the clear evidence she presents and so the book feels unbalanced – but remains never-the-less compelling.
    Udham Singh was in the garden when Brigadier-General Dyer ordered the troops to open fire but survived, it’s said, to clutch a handful of blood sudden earth and swear his revenge. Dyer was already dead before Udham got his chance but the man he killed was Sir Michael O’Dwyer, lieutenant governor of Punjab at the time of the massacre and can be said to have had overall responsibility.
    Coming as it did in the middle of World War II the assassination does not seem to have had the impact we might expect. The authorities did their best to rush through the trial and inevitable execution and damp down any political repercussions in India.
    Today Udham Singh’s statue still stands in Punjab where he is considered by many a nationalist hero. But the case of Udham Singh can also be seen as an example of the ineffectiveness of individual terrorism, as understandable as it might be, when faced with a powerful and merciless imperialism.