Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday heaped praises on Sankaran Nair, a renowned lawyer and high-ranking official in the British government who stood up against the rulers after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
The prime minister was in Haryana where he inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for various development projects in Yamuna Nagar district.
“Yesterday the country celebrated the festival of Baisakhi. Yesterday was also the 106th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre…Apart from the countrymen who died in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the cruelty of British, there is one more aspect which was kept in the dark. This aspect is about the courage to stand with mankind and the country. The name of the aspect was Shankaran Nair. You all might not have heard about it,” PM Modi told the gathering.
PM Modi said that there is a growing discussion on the contribution of Shankaran Nair and highlighted his unwavering spirit of standing for humanity and the nation.
“Shankaran Nair was a famous lawyer and was working on a top position in the British government. He could have earned the pleasure, happiness and peace by aligning with those in power. But he raised his voice against the cruelty of the British government after getting inspired by Jallianwala Bagh. He left his job in British government,” PM Modi said.
PM Modi said that Nair’s actions was a remarkable example of “Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat,” showcasing how a man from Kerala stood against British power for a massacre in Punjab.
“He was from Kerala. The incident had happened in Punjab. But he decided to fight the Jallianwala Bagh case. He fought single-handedly and shook the foundations of the British Empire,” he said, adding that the action is not just standing with mankind, but a “remarkable example of “Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat.”
He lauded Shankaran Nair’s action, saying how a person in the distant South took upon the British government for a massacre in Punjab.
PM Modi’s remark comes a day after the anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (April 13, 1919), where hundreds of people peacefully protesting against the Rowlatt Acts were gunned down by British forces without any provocation at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar.
On April 8, ABP LIVE reported on how Sankaran Nair was relegated to the footnotes of Indian history despite his monumental contributions to the freedom movement. The video, which highlighted his role during following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, was widely shared on social media and sparked discussions, with BJP members accusing the Congress of erasing from history its own people that the party was not comfortable with.
Even Congress MP Shashi Tharoor recently described Nair as a “fearless patriot”. “His legacy deserves much greater recognition in modern Indian history,” Tharoor posted on X (formerly Twitter).
In fact, it was not the first time he was speaking about the Kerala stalwart.
In 2018, after inaugurating the Sir C. Sankaran Nair Memorial seminar at a Thiruvananthapuram college, he posted: “Impressive turnout for the 161st birthday of a proud son of Kerala & former President of @INCIndia (1897) unjustly relegated to the footnotes of modern Indian history.”
All About Sankaran Nair
Chettur Sankaran Nair, a distinguished lawyer from Kerala, was born in 1857 into a wealthy family in Pallakad district of the state. He became the youngest president of the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1897, and the first Malayali to serve on the post.
In 1912, he was knighted by the British. However, he fearlessly took on both the British colonial regime and his own political contemporaries, including the Congress, from time to time.
His legacy, however, remains overshadowed by the dominant narratives of India’s independence struggle.
Incidentally, his name started to do the rounds also after the Dharma Productions launched the teaser of Kesari Chapter 2. Akshay Kumar is set to play the role of Sankaran Nair in the film that seeks to bring to life a courtoom drama that unfolded in London after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, with Nair facing a libel suit after he held then Punjab Lieutenant Governor Michael O’Dwyer equally responsible for the 1919 massacre.
CS Nair used to served as Education Minister and was the sole Indian representative in the Viceroy’s Executive Council during 1919. However, after the Amritsar firing, he launched a protest against the British government and resigned from his post in protest.
