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.
