A true hero! (1)

While every Indian knows about Jallianwala Bagh massacre, few of us think about the reactions of the British public to the event. The massacre itself was blacked out by the government in India and martial law was in place. When news got out, the British tabloids referred to Jallianwala Bagh massacre as the "Amritsar affair" - in an obvious use of minimising language.

How could the "affair" change the attitudes of the British public if they were denied the truth? The answer lies, as often, in the efforts of one man. A man whose origins are as far away from Punjab as one can imagine.

Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair was born in an aristocratic family in 1857 in Palakkad district of Kerala. His strong sense of fairness and justice, drove him to pursue law. Nair was an iconoclast and defied the dictates of the Vakil association, which said no Indian would work under a British barrister. His reason : his clients had the freedom to choose their lawyer. To him justice mattered more than the colour of the lawyer's. To him justice mattered more than the colour of the lawyer's skin. He was a vociferous advocate of social reforms.

As Madras High Court judge, he ruled that those who converted to Hinduism cannot be treated as outcastes. He also supported inter-religious marriages and was clearly ahead of his time. He became the youngest leader of the Indian National congress. When the Montague Chemsford reforms were introduced in 1908, he called out the act as being partial. Even though Sir Rdwin Montagu called him an "impossible man", the British respected his moral rectitude and knighted him in 1912. In 1915 Nair became a member of the powerful Viceroy council and was given the education portfolio.

Then Jallianwala Bagh happened, 

Nair resigned from the Viceroy council in protest - something unheard of, at that time. He wrote "Gandhi and Anarchy" in which he openly accused the Punjab Governor Michael O'Dwyer (the man who would be later shot by Shaheed Udham Singh). In response, O'Dwyer filed a defamation suit against Nair. 

....to be continued.

Tailpiece.

Got up at a half past 6, the chores, had breakfast and bath before 1200 hrs. Moideen brought the chicken from his shop, about 2 kms from our house. The second round of washing-machinex with bed-linen was over much before 10.

A quiet evening thereafter.