17/08/2026
17 August– Shaheed Madan Lal Dhingra
Madan Lal Dhingra was born on February 18, 1883 in Amritsar, India, in an educated and affluent family.
His father, Dr. Ditta Mal Dhingra, was a civil surgeon, and Madan Lal was one of eight children (seven sons and one daughter).
Madanlal studied at Amritsar in MB Intermediate College until 1900. He then went to Lahore to study at the Government College University.
Here, he was influenced by nationalist movement. At that time was about seeking Home Rule rather than independence. He felt that the key issues in seeking solutions to poverty and other problems lay in Swaraj (self-government) and the Swadeshi movement.
In 1904, as a student in the Master of Arts program, he led a student protest against the principal's order to have the college blazer made of cloth imported. 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.
But he refused, and chose not even to go home to discuss matters with his father. He took several jobs and finally he moved to Bombay and worked there for some time.
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.
He finally agreed, and in 1906, he departed for Britain to enroll at University College, London, to study mechanical engineering.
His elder brother paid for his expenses.
In London he joined India House along with Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Shyamji Krishna Varma. Later, he 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 1905 Partition of Bengal.
On the evening of July 1, 1909, he 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 Imperial Institute.
When Curzon Wyllie, political aide-de-camp to the Secretary of State for India, was leaving the hall, Madanlal Dhingra fired five shots right at his face, four of which hit their target. Cawas Lalcaca (or Lalkaka), a Parsee doctor who tried to save Curzon Wyllie, died of Dhingra's sixth and seventh bullets, which he fired because Lalcaca had come between them.
He did not try to escape and was arrested on spot. Later Madan Lal Dhingra was hanged on 17 August 1909 at Pentonville Prison after one sided trial.
Remembering Amar Shaheed Madan Lal Dhingra on his Martyrdom Day !
