Remembering Comrade Santosh Kumar

In the death of Com. Santosh Kumar (he always preferred to be called Comrade), today at the ripe old age of 94, the trade union movement of newspaper employees have suffered a huge loss. He is survived by his daughter and her family. He lived throughout his life in a refugee colony, which was allotted to him when he came to Delhi from Lahore after the partition of the country. With the death of his young son and later of his wife, he was a totally devastated person but his enthusiasm to participate in any struggle of workers remained undiminished.  

He was the President of the All-India Newspaper EmployeesFederation (AINEF) after the death of the veteran CPI leader S Y Kolhatkar. He was the Secretary-General of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ) and led to many struggles of newspaper employees. One might have disagreed with Comrade Kumar, but he never had any personal animosity or rancour with anybody. Proficient in Hindi, Urdu, and English, he retired as the news editor from the Urdu daily Pratap. A Kashmiri by origin Comrade Santosh Kumar Gurtu was born in Lahore in 1927. Besides, journalism and trade unionism, he had in-depth knowledge of the Hindu religion. He despised superstations and laid emphasis on the rationality and morality of the religion. Widely travelled Com Santosh Kumar has written many books. His book ‘LahoreNama’ provides a vivid picture of the historical city of Lahore of the pre-partition days.

The grief and sorrow in tearing down the great culture of Lahore by the successive communal and bigoted governments of Pakistan are pensively reflected in the book. The posterity of journalists, opinion-makers, politicians, and diplomats will, without doubt, continue to be benefitted from the travelogue Lahore Nama. Although Comrade Santosh Kumar was the cardholder of the Communist Party of India, yet he never kowtowed with politicians, as he lived a saintly life. He used to regularly attend the joint meetings of the different media trade unions and everyone used to listen to him seriously. Alas! Now he will be no more available to guide and benefit us. Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ) dips its banner to mourn the passing away of one of its former Secretary- Generals. We pray to God to give him rebirth to lead the working class, which was most dear to his heart.

Parmanand Pandey