Author: Aditi Tandon
Publication: The Tribune
Date: August 23, 2011
URL: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110824/main8.htm
Little is known of Pandit K. Santanam, the
man who first bared the horrors of Jallianwala Bagh massacre to the world
and who, despite being a conservative Iyengar from Tamil Nadu, left his native
place and made Lahore his permanent home. This August 25, the Department of
Posts will release a commemorative stamp in Santanam's memory, 62 years after
he passed away.
Much of the man's contribution was made to
Punjab, which he toured in the aftermath of the Jallianwala tragedy to reveal
the truth. The government-appointed Hunter's Committee had buried the facts
which resulted in the Indian National Congress appointing its own committee
to probe the tragedy.
Santanam, as secretary of this committee which
comprised Mahatma Gandhi among others, helped compile a two-volume report
on the massacre after recording the evidence of 1,700 survivors in times when
the British had clamped martial law in the region, and blacked it out from
the world.
"The volume came in 1920 and remains,
to date, the most authentic record of the massacre. My father had a special
love for Punjab, especially Lahore, where he lived until the Partition. Unfortunately,
we were unable to carry back documents that contained references to him. All
we had for record were the references to him contained in the works of Gandhiji
and Nehruji. I am glad his work is being finally recognised," Madhuri
Sondhi, the lone surviving daughter out of the four that Santanam had, told
The Tribune today.
She recalled the association her father had
with The Tribune and how his house briefly hosted the newspaper during its
clandestine publication from Lahore. The Tribune for its part elaborately
covered the unusual inter-caste marriage Santanam, a Brahmin from Kumbakonam,
had with Krishna, daughter of Arya Samaj leader Pandit Atma Ram Vedi, in 1916.
"It was an unusual wedding for those days," recalls Madhuri, widow
of eminent parliamentarian and IFS topper, the late M L Sondhi.
She added that the Jallianwala tragedy was
not just about April 13, 1919; it was equally about the brutal reign of terror
the British unleashed after the massacre in their attempt to thwart legitimate
protests.
"It was then that the British embroiled
top leaders for waging a war against the government. My father represented
them, being a barrister with the Lahore High Court," she says.
Santanam was defence counsel in what came
to be called as the Lahore Leaders Case. To seek its transfer out of Lahore
and ensure an impartial probe, he undertook a dramatic journey to summer capital
Simla, just to inform the Indian member of the Viceroy's Executive Council
of the goings-on in Punjab and the horrors of Martial Law.
"He hid under a bunk in a railway carriage
where an Englishman had seated himself. He could not get the case transferred
but he did bring the facts before the rest of India which didn't have a clue
to what was happening in Punjab post Jallianwala," Madhuri says.
Also treasurer of the association set up for
the defence of Bhagat Singh, Santanam, in 1924, became Managing Director of
Lakshmi Insurance Company, which was later called the LIC of India. "That
was at the behest of Lala Lajpat Rai, his close friend," his daughter
recalls. The man's last assignment was as member of the advisory committee
to the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation which rehabilitated the Partition
victims.