Faizan Ahmad | Team TrickyScribe: Seventy seven years back, a biggest tragedy struck India, and the world, when Father of the Nation was assassinated on 30 January 1948 at 5.05 pm in the compound of Birla House. The killer Nathuram Vinayak Godse and his accomplice Narain Apte were hanged to death in the morning of 15 November 1949 in Ambala Central jail.
Just out of curiosity I read this week the book “Why I Killed Gandhi” by Nathuram Godse. It contains 150 paras pleading his case and submitting reasons why he shot thrice and instantly killed Gandhi. But I could hardly find any logical and convincing reason for this inhuman, illegal and anti national act. How could the payment of Rs 55 crore to Pakistan be a cause to kill Mahatma? How could the Muslim “appeasement” policy of Gandhiji be a reason for shooting down the Father of the Nation?
These and other similar pleadings spanning over nearly 100 pages of the book were heard by special judge Atma Charan at Red Fort between November 8-22, 1948.
What is more pronounced is the fact that Godse through his arguments only spat venom against Gandhi which clearly showed his hatred or enmity, or both, which knew no bounds, towards Mahatma. He used so bitter and highly derogatory terms which anyone will be ashamed of reading. When someone asked why he killed him, his absurd reply was, “The reason is purely political and only political.”
Some of his terse observation about Gandhi:
“Gandhiji while advocating his views always showed or evinced a bias for Muslims, prejudicial and detrimental to the Hindu community…… Gandhiji was paradoxical as it may appear, a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and non-violence…. “
“One hundred and ten million people have become torn from their homes of which not less than four million are Muslim and when I found that even after such terrible results Gandhiji continued to pursue the same policy of appeasement, my blood boiled, and I couldn’t tolerate him any longer. Gandhiji in fact succeeded in doing what the British always wanted to do in pursuance of their policy of Divide and Rule. He helped them in dividing India…..”
“The accumulating provocation of 32 years culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast at last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhiji should be brought to an end immediately… Gandhiji was guilty of blunder after blunder, failure after failure and disaster after disaster. No single political victory can be claimed to his credit during 32 years of his political predominance….. his ostentatious support of the Muslims made him look almost idiotic…..”
“Gandhiji had no love for Parliamentary bodies. He called them prostitutes and always urged their boycott….. those who talk of India’s freedom having been secured by Gandhiji are not only ungrateful but are trying to write false history… It is entirely incorrect to represent the Mahatma as the architect of Indian Independence… About the winning of Swaraj and freedom, I maintain the Mahatma’s contribution was negligible….”
“Gandhiji’s inner voice, his spiritual power and his doctrine of non-violence of which so much is made of, all crumbled before Mr Jinnah’s iron will and proved to be powerless… To my mind Gandhiji himself was the greatest supporter and advocate of Pakistan and no power could have any control on him in this attitude of his…. The only effective remedy to relieve the Hindus from the Muslim atrocities was, to my mind, to remove Gandhiji from this world….”
It is very clear that nursing the hateful and violent thoughts this man had planned to kill Gandhi. In bid to carry out his nefarious plan, he procured a pistol. “I happened to come across a refugee who was dealing in arms and he showed me the pistol. I was tempted to have it and I bought it from him. It is the same pistol which I used in the shots I fired.”
Godse admitted his association with the RSS saying “I have worked for several years in the RSS and subsequently joined the Hindu Mahasabha.”
Godse tried his best, and also succeeded, to protect Savarkar in the Gandhi murder case, but very cleverly. He sang peans for him but repeatedly claimed that he had absolutely no hint of the murder plan. At some stage he even claimed that he and other accused maintained a distance from Savarkar and went on not relying on him. “We felt in our heart of hearts that the time had come when we should bid goodbye to Veer Savarkar’s lead and ceased to consult him in our future policy and programmes. Nor should we confide in him our future plans.”
“I reassert that it is not true that Veer Savarkar has any knowledge of my activities which ultimately led me to fire shots at Gandhiji; I repeat that Savarkar has given us no order to finish Gandhiji, Nehru and Suhrawardy (as submitted by Digambar R Badge, one of the accused who had turned approver).”
On February 10, 1949, by the special court Nathuram Godse and Nana Apte were sentenced “to be hanged by the neck till death” while Vishnu Karkare, Madan Lal Pahwa, Gopal Godse, Shankar Kistaiya and Dr Dattatreya Sadashiv Parchure were sentenced to “transportation for life.” Digambar Bagde was offered a pardon as he had turned an approver while Savarkar was “honourably” acquitted. The high court judgement was delivered on June 22, 1949. Dr Parchure and Kistaiya were acquitted.
On November 14, 1949, day before the execution at Ambala Central jail, relatives of Godse and Apte numbering about 30-35 gathered to have the last ‘Darshan’ of the two. One visitor of the relatives asked, “Well Nathuram, it is custom to immerse the ashes in Ganga in Haridwar, or Triveni Sangam in Prayag Raj, or in the Godavari in Nasik. How did you choose the river Sindhu for the immersion of your remains? Nathuram replied, “It is the only river that has remained uncontaminated.” There was a great laugh. Everyone present knew that Gandhiji’s remains could not be sunk into the Sindhu. Godse’s dirty view was that wherever the ashes of Mahatma were immersed those rivers got contaminated.
“The remains (ashes) of Gandhiji were distributed in large towns and many rivers in India and abroad but the said ashes could not be immersed in the Holy Indus passing through Pakistan in spite of the endeavours of Shri Prakash, the Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan.”
Godse has made another claim refuting the last words of Gandhi before dying. It is widely believed that he uttered Hey Ram. But Godse claimed it was not it. “In the next split second the shots were fired. Weak as he already was, Gandhiji collapsed almost instantly dead on the ground, with the faintest ‘Ah’ which arose from deep down his lungs. The words ‘Hey Ram’ were a fiction of the imagination of the then government and attributed to him to gain the Hindu sentiments….”
The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi was so barbaric, horrific and heart wrenching that the three bullets fired at one man in fact pierced through the body of India that left millions of people, save a few, bleeding.
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, the father of farmers ‘ movement, was so shocked that he called the killer “a hydra-headed monster and Communal Canker.”
In a statement, issued in Patna the very next day of the tragedy, he said, “Let us emulate that glorious death. Let us take this assassination as the signal of the ascendant hydra-headed monster of religious fanaticism and religio-cultural hysteric determined to triumph at whatever cost, and resolve not to lose our balance, keep calm and allow ourselves no rest until this monster, this Communal Canker, this religio-political madness is banished from our land and the life, honour and property of each and every Muslim here and Hindu there is fully secured. This is the only way to commemorate the martyrdom of the Mahatma.” the signed statement of Swamiji is preserved in his ashram in Bihta.
An interesting anecdote about this statement was narrated by a well known name in the fields of art, culture and literature Anish Ankur. He said last year Union Home Minister was scheduled to visit this Ashram and all preparations were made but the intelligence reports were sent to the home ministry about the views of Swamiji particularly his statement on Gandhi’s assassination and about Godse. After that his visit was cancelled.
One more thing which might shock and puzzle anybody was that why Gandhiji’s two sons Devdas Gandhi and Ramdas Gandhi were allegedly in touch with the murderer of their father.
When Godse was at Simla in temporary custody, he received a letter from Ramdas Gandhi addressing him as “Dear Nathuram Godse”. The letter dated May 17, 1949 said, “The writer of this letter is the son of someone you seem to take great pride in having assassinated. I am sure you will one day realise that you have only put an end to my father’s perishable body and nothing more. Because, not only in my case, but in the case of millions all over the world, the spirit of my father still rules over their hearts.”
The long letter ends with a PS: “I may inform you that on 1.5.49, I have addressed a letter to the Governor General of India, giving him my reason why you should not be made to suffer the penalty awarded by the Special Tribunal to look into the charges framed against you by the authorities concerned.”
In his reply Godse without any remorse said, “Brother, I say I’m an open minded man always subject to correction. But what is the way to remove my misunderstanding, if any, to make me repent? Certainly not the gallows, nor a big show of mercy and commute my punishment. The only way is to see me and make me realize. Until now I have come across nothing which will make me repent.”
Devdas Gandhi, the youngest son of Gandhi went to see Godse after his arrest when he was in police custody at Parliament Street. Gopal Godse made this claim: “Catching the gaze of an individual he (Nathuram) stood near the bars and asked him: “You are Shri Devdas Gandhi, I suppose.” “Yes, but how did you recognise me?”
“It was the counter question by the individual. Perhaps he had come there expecting to find some horrid looking, bloodthirsty monster without a trace of politeness. ‘We have recently met at a press conference. You had come there as the editor of The Hindustan Times.’ ‘And you?’ ‘I am Nathuram Vinayak Godse, the editor of the daily Hindu Rashtra. I am very much grieved at the bereavement that has befallen you and the rest of your family. Kindly believe me, I was not prompted to do this with any sort of personal hatred, or any grudge or with any evil intention towards you.’
“Then why did you do it? The reason is purely political and only political.”
Politics, but what sort of politics. A politics filled with hatred and enmity. Gandhi is killed every day by a handful of supporters of Godse. They take pleasure and pride in firing at an effigy of Gandhi filled with red colour. This way they recreate the ghastly scene of January 30, 1948, at 5.05 pm at Birla House, and pay their obeisance to the killer.
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