Though nationalism and patriotism are evoked often in the national discourse today, the great-grandnephew of iconic revolutionary Udham Singh is struggling to secure the job of a peon with the Punjab government, which was promised to him by former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh 10 years ago.
The promise of the Congress government did not materialise after the regime changed. The repeated pleas of Jagga Singh, great-grandson of Udham Singh’s elder sister Aas Kaur, to the Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP government have not yielded any results.
Udham Singh had avenged the massacre of hundreds of people in Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919 by General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer by killing Michael O’Dwyer, who was the Governor of Punjab when the massacre took place, in London 21 years later. Charged with murder, he was hanged to death in 1940 in a prison in London.
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Jagga Singh works at a cloth merchant’s shop for ₹ 2,500 a month, to sustain a family of six, including his 60-year-old father, Jeet Singh.
Hoping to draw the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, 30-year-old Mr. Singh has been holding a dharna for the last four days at Jantar Mantar here.
''But neither the BJP, which is ruling at the Centre, nor the Shiromani Akali Dal in the State have offered anything concrete. We are not begging from the government to give us money; we are just asking for a job, which is our right and not wrong demand,” he said.
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