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{{Short description|Indian revolutionary (1883-1909)}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Madan Lal Dhingra
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1883|02|18}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1909|08|17|1883|02|18}}
| birth_place = [[Amritsar]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| death_place = [[ Pentonville Prison]], [[London, England]]
| death_cause = [[Execution by hanging]]
| image = Madan Dhingra.jpg
| caption =
| movement = [[Indian independence movement]]
| organization = [[India House]]
| conviction = [[Murder]]
| criminal_penalty = [[Capital punishment|Death]]
| criminal_status = [[Executed]]
}}

'''Madan Lal Dhingra''' (18 February 1883 — 17 August 1909) was an Indian [[revolution]]ary, [[Indian independence movement|pro-independence activist]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Chandra|first=Bipan|title=India's Struggle for Independence|publisher=Penguin Books India|location=New Delhi|year=1989|pages=144–145|isbn=978-0-14-010781-4}}</ref> While studying in England, he [[Assassination|assassinated]] [[Curzon Wyllie|William Hutt Curzon Wyllie]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Nehru |first=Jawaharlal |author2=Nand Lal Gupta|title=Jawaharlal Nehru on Communalism|publisher=Hope India Publications|page=161|year=2006|isbn=978-81-7871-117-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sI_I-jk8YWsC&pg=PT161}}</ref> a British official.

==Early life==
Madan Lal Dhingra was born on 18 February 1883 in [[Amritsar]], [[British Raj|India]], in an educated and affluent [[Punjabi people|Punjabi Khatri]] family. His father, Dr. Ditta Mal Dhingra, was a civil surgeon, and Madan Lal was one of eight children (seven sons and one daughter). All seven sons, including Dhingra, studied abroad.<ref name="Open">{{cite web | url=http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/madan-lal-dhingra | title=Madan Lal Dhingra | publisher=The Open University | access-date=19 March 2016}}</ref>

Dhingra studied at [[Amritsar]] in MB Intermediate College until 1900. He then went to Lahore to study at the [[Government College University (Lahore)|Government College University]]. Here, he was influenced by the incipient nationalist movement, which at that time was about seeking [[Home Rule]] rather than independence. Dhingra was especially troubled by the [[Poverty in India|poverty of India]]. He studied the literature concerning the causes of Indian poverty and famines extensively, and felt that the key issues in seeking solutions to these problems lay in ''[[Swaraj]]'' (self-government) and the [[Swadeshi movement|''Swadeshi'' movement]]. Dhingra embraced with particular fervour the ''Swadeshi'' movement, which aimed to increase India's self-sufficiency by encouraging Indian industry and entrepreneurship, and boycotting British (and other foreign) goods. He found that the industrial and finance policies of the colonial government were designed to suppress local industry and favour the purchase of British imports, which he felt was a major reason for the lack of economic development in India.

In 1904, as a student in the [[Master of Arts]] program, Dhingra led a student protest against the principal's order to have the college blazer made of cloth imported from Britain. He was expelled from the college for this. His father, who held a high, well-paying position in government service and had a poor opinion of agitationists, told him to apologise to the college management, not to participate in such activities again, and prevent (or revoke) the expulsion. Dhingra refused, and chose not even to go home to discuss matters with his father, but to take a job and live as per his own wishes. Thus, following his expulsion, Dhingra took a job as a [[Clerk (position)|clerk]] at [[Kalka]] at the foot of the Shimla hills, in a firm that ran a ''[[Tanga (carriage)|Tanga carriage]]'' service to transport British families to [[Shimla]] for the summer months. After being dismissed for insubordination, he worked as a factory laborer. Here, he attempted to organise a union, but was sacked for making the effort. He moved to [[Mumbai|Bombay]] and worked there for some time, again at low-level jobs. By now, his family was seriously worried about him, and his elder brother, Dr. Bihari Lal, compelled him to go to Britain to continue his higher education. Dhingra finally agreed, and in 1906, he departed for Britain to enroll at [[University College London|University College]], London, to study [[mechanical engineering]].<ref name="Open"/> His elder brother paid for his expenses.

==With Savarkar==
{{Main|India House}}
Dhingra arrived in London a year after the foundation of Shyamaji Krishnavarma's [[India House]] in 1905. This [[organization]] was a meeting place for Indian [[revolution]]aries located in [[Highgate]].<ref name="Open"/> Dhingra came into contact with noted Indian independence and political activists [[Vinayak Damodar Savarkar]] and [[Shyamji Krishna Varma]], who were impressed by his perseverance and intense [[patriotism]] which turned his focus to the independence movement. Savarkar believed in revolution and inspired Dhingra's admiration in the cult of assassination.<ref name="Open"/> Later, Dhingra became distant from India House and was known to frequent a shooting range on [[Tottenham Court Road]]. He joined and had a membership in, a secretive society, the ''[[Abhinav Bharat Mandal]]'' founded by Savarkar and his brother Ganesh.

During this period, Savarkar, Dhingra, and other student activists were outraged by the [[Partition of Bengal (1905)|1905 Partition of Bengal]].

Dhingra was disowned for his political activities by his father Gitta Mall, who was the Chief Medical Officer in Amritsar, who went so far as to publish his decision in newspaper advertisements.<ref name="IE"/>

==Curzon Wyllie's assassination==
Several weeks before assassinating Curzon Wyllie, Dhingra had tried to kill [[George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston|George Curzon]], Viceroy of India. He had also planned to assassinate the ex-Governor of Bengal, [[Bampfylde Fuller]], but was late for a meeting the two were to attend, and so could not carry out his plan. Dhingra then decided to kill Curzon Wyllie. Curzon Wylie had joined the British Army in 1866 and the [[Indian Political Department]] in 1879. He had earned distinction in a number of locations including Central India and above all in [[Rajputana]] where he rose to the highest rank in the Service. In 1901, he was selected to be Political [[Aide-de-Camp]] to the [[Secretary of State for India]]. He was also the head of the Secret Police and had been trying to obtain information about Savarkar and his fellow revolutionaries.<ref name="Godbole">{{cite web | url=http://www.hindujagruti.org/articles/46_madan-lal-dhingra.html | title=Madan Lal Dhingra: A lion hearted National hero | publisher=Hindu Janajagruti Samiti | access-date=19 March 2016 | author=Godbole, Dr Shreerang}}</ref> Curzon Wyllie was said to have been a close friend of Dhingra's father.<ref name="IE">{{cite web | url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/punjab-and-haryana/family-continues-to-boycott-madan-lal-dhingra-even-as-country-celebrates-his-martyrdom/ | title=Family continues to boycott Madan Lal Dhingra, even as country celebrates his martyrdom | publisher=The Indian Express [P] Ltd. | access-date=19 March 2016| date=18 August 2015 }}</ref>

On the evening of 1 July 1909, Dhingra, along with a large number of Indians and Englishmen had gathered to attend the annual 'At Home' function hosted by the [[Indian National Association]] at the [[Commonwealth_Education_Trust#The_Imperial_Institute|Imperial Institute]].<ref name="Open"/><ref name=ejb>[http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/e-j-beck EJ Beck], Open University, Retrieved 27 July 2015</ref> When Curzon Wyllie, political [[aide-de-camp]] to the [[Secretary of State for India]], was leaving the hall with his wife, Dhingra fired five shots right at his face, four of which hit their target. Cawas Lalcaca<ref>{{cite web|author1=General Register Office|title=England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837–2007|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2J7S-FX1|website=FamilySearch|publisher=The Church of [[Jesus Christ]] of Latter-day Saints|access-date=29 May 2016|quote=Cawas Lalcaca, 1909, St. George Hanover Square, London, England}}</ref> (or Lalkaka), a [[Parsee]] doctor who tried to save Curzon Wyllie, died of Dhingra's sixth and seventh bullets,<ref name="Open"/> which he fired because Lalcaca had come between them.<ref name="Godbole"/>

Dhingra's suicide attempt failed and he was overpowered.<ref name="Godbole"/> He was arrested immediately by the police.<ref name="Open"/>

===Trial===

Dhingra was tried in the [[Old Bailey]] on 23 July. He represented himself during his trial but did not recognize the legitimacy of the court.<ref name="Open"/> He stated that his assassination was done in the name of Indian independence and that his actions were motivated by [[patriotism]].<ref name="Open"/> He also stated that he had not intended to kill Cawas Lalcaca.<ref name="Godbole"/> He was sentenced to death. After the judge announced his verdict, Dhingra is [[Last words|said to have stated]]: "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".{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} Madan Lal Dhingra was hanged on 17 August 1909 at [[HM Prison Pentonville|Pentonville Prison]].<ref name="Open"/> He also made a further statement, which is rarely mentioned.

===Statement of Dhingra before Pronouncement of Verdict===
{{anchor | Statement }}
[[File:MadanLalDhingra Statement from Old Baileys Proceedings Archive 190907190064.jpg|thumb]]
<blockquote> "I do not want to say anything in defence of myself, but simply to prove the justice of my deed. As for myself, no English law court has got any authority to arrest and detain me in prison, or pass sentence of death on me. That is the reason I did not have any counsel to defend me. And I maintain that if it is patriotic in an 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 80 millions of Indian people in the last fifty years, and they are also responsible for taking away £100,000,000 every year from India to this country. I also hold them responsible for the hanging and deportation of my patriotic countrymen, who did just the same as the English people here are advising their countrymen to do. And the Englishman who goes out to India and gets, say, £100 a month, that simply means that he passes a sentence of death on a thousand of my poor countrymen, because these thousand people could easily live on this £100, which the Englishman spends mostly on his frivolities and pleasures. Just as the Germans have no right to occupy this country, so the English people have no right to occupy India, and it is perfectly justifiable on our part to kill the Englishman who is polluting our sacred land. I am surprised at the terrible hypocrisy, the farce, and the mockery of the English people. They pose as the champions of oppressed humanity—the peoples of the Congo and the people of Russia—when there is terrible oppression and horrible atrocities committed in India; for example, the killing of two millions of people every year and the outraging of our women. In case this country is occupied by Germans, and the Englishman, not bearing to see the Germans walking with the insolence of conquerors in the streets of London, goes and kills one or two Germans, and that Englishman is held as a patriot by the people of this country, then certainly I am prepared to work for the emancipation of my Motherland. Whatever else I have to say is in the paper before the Court I make this statement, not because I wish to plead for mercy or anything of that kind. I wish that English people should sentence me to death, for in that case the vengeance of my countrymen will be all the more keen. I put forward this statement to show the justice of my cause to the outside world, and especially to our sympathisers in America and Germany."
<ref>Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 07 September 2020), July 1909, trial of DHINGRA, Madar Lal (25, student) (t19090719-55)</ref>
</blockquote>
===Verdict of court===
While he was being removed from the court, he said to the Chief Justice – "Thank you, my Lord. I don't care. I am proud to have the honour of laying down my life for the cause of my motherland."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t19090719-55&div=t19090719-55&terms=Dhingra|title=MADAR LAL DHINGRA,. Killing > murder, 19 July 1909}}</ref>

===Reactions===

[[Guy Aldred]], the printer of ''[[The Indian Sociologist]]'', was sentenced to twelve months [[hard labor]]. The August issue of ''The Indian Sociologist'' had carried a story sympathetic to Dhingra. Dhingra's actions also inspired some of the Irish, who were [[Easter Rising|fighting to establish an independent Ireland]].

Political activist [[Mahatma Gandhi|Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi]] condemned Dhingra's actions. Speaking on the matter, he said: {{quote|It is being said in defence of Sir Curzon Wyllie’s assassination that...just as the British would kill every German if Germany invaded Britain, so too it is the right of any Indian to kill any Englishman.... The analogy...is fallacious. If the Germans were to invade Britain, the British would kill only the invaders. They would not kill every German whom they met.... They would not kill an unsuspecting German, or Germans who are guests. Even should the British leave in consequence of such murderous acts, who will rule in their place? Is the Englishman bad because he is an Englishman? Is it that everyone with an Indian skin is good? If that is so, there should be [no] angry protest against oppression by Indian princes. India can gain nothing from the rule of murderers—no matter whether they are black or white. Under such a rule, India will be utterly ruined and laid waste.<ref>[http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/articles/wpj05-sp/gandhi.pdf The Indian Opinion] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070101005237/http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/articles/wpj05-sp/gandhi.pdf |date=1 January 2007 }}, 14 August 1909</ref>}}

After Dhingra went to the gallows, ''[[The Times]]'' of London wrote an editorial (24 July 1909) titled "Conviction of Dhingra". The editorial said, "The nonchalance displayed by the assassin was of a character which is happily unusual in such trials in this country. He asked no questions. He maintained a defiance of studied indifference. He walked smiling from the Dock."

Although the response to the assassination in Britain was one of outrage, admiration for Dhingra's act was privately expressed by [[David Lloyd George]] and [[Winston Churchill]], who is reported to have called Dhingra's statement "[t]he Finest ever made in the name of Patriotism".<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Life And Times Of Madan Lal Dhingra|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=U7wwBQAAQBAJ|publisher = Prabhat Prakashan|isbn = 9788184302295|first = Vishav|last = Bandhu}}</ref>

==Last words from gallows==
The following are said to be Madan Lal Dhingra's [[last words]], just before he died at the gallows:

<blockquote>I believe that a nation held down by foreign [[bayonet]]s 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 wealth and intellect, a son like myself has nothing else to offer to the mother but his own blood. And so I have [[sacrifice]]d 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. ''[[Vande Mataram]]!'' ("I praise thee mother!")<ref name="Godbole"/></blockquote>

==Remembrance==
[[File:Madan Lal Dhingra 1992 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|Madan Lal Dhingra on a 1992 stamp of India.]]

After his execution, Dhingra's body was denied [[Hindu]] rites and buried by the British authorities. His family having disowned him, the authorities refused to turn over the body to Savarkar. Dhingra's coffin was accidentally found while authorities searched for the remains of Shaheed [[Udham Singh]], and [[Repatriation|repatriated]] to India on 13 December 1976.<ref name="Godbole"/> His remains are kept in one of the main squares, which has been named after him, in the city of [[Akola]] in [[Maharashtra]]. Dhingra is widely remembered in India today, and was an inspiration at the time for revolutionaries such as [[Bhagat Singh]] and [[Chandrasekhar Azad]].

There was a demand from some groups that his ancestral home be converted into a museum.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120218/asrtrib.htm#5 | title=Youth bodies demand national memorial status for house of martyr Madan Lal Dhingra | work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]] | date=18 February 2012 | access-date=1 March 2012 | author=Bagga, Neeraj}}</ref> However, his descendants refuse to acknowledge his legacy and refused to participate in events organised to honour his death in August 2015.<ref name="IE"/> The family sold his ancestral house and refused an offer to purchase it made by [[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]] leader Laxmi Kanta Chawla who intended to turn it into a museum.<ref name="IE"/>

== In popular culture ==
In the movie ''[[Veer Savarkar (film)|Veer Savarkar]]'', actor [[Pankaj Berry]] portrayed Madan Lal Dhingra.

==See also==
* [[India House]]
* [[List of Indian independence activists]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* Laurence, John (1930). ''A History of Capital Punishment'', London, Sampson Low, Marston, & Co.
* Waraich, Malwinder Jit Singh & Kuldip Puri (2003). ''Tryst with Martyrdom: Trial of Madan Lal Dhingra (July–August 1909)'', Chandigarh: Unistar, {{ISBN|81-86898-72-7}}.

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last=Finn|first=Pat|title=Homicide 1909|publisher=Amazon|year=2017|isbn=978-1981514502}}

* Dhingra Leena | Exhumation: The Life and Death of Madan Lal Dhingra | Non-fiction | Hope Road (17 Aug. 2021) | ISBN 978-1913109820

==External links==
{{Commons category|Madan Lal Dhingra}}
* [http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t19090719-55&div=t19090719-55&terms=Dhingra#highlight The trial of Madan Lal Dhingra]. The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674–1913. [http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/ Old Bailey Online].
*[http://www.blackkalendar.nl/content.php?key=26527&name=Madar%20Lal%20Dhingra Case of Madar Lal Dhingra]. Black Kalendar.

{{India House}}
{{Indian Revolutionary Movement}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2013}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhingra, Madan Lal}}
[[Category:1883 births]]
[[Category:1909 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century executions by the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College London]]
[[Category:Executed revolutionaries]]
[[Category:India House]]
[[Category:Indian assassins]]
[[Category:Indian people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:Indian people executed abroad]]
[[Category:Executed Indian people]]
[[Category:Indian revolutionaries]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by England and Wales]]
[[Category:People executed by the United Kingdom by hanging]]
[[Category:Executed assassins]]
[[Category:Revolutionary movement for Indian independence]]

Madan Lal Dhingra - Revision history

UpdateBot at 14:31, 26 June 2022