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Why Godse Killed Gandhi?
Nathuram Ghodse is often a misunderstood
character. He is referred to as a Hindu fanatic. It is often hard to
understand Godse because the Government of India had suppressed
information about him. His court statements, letters etc. were all
banned from the public until recently. Judging from his writings one
thing becomes very clear – He was no fanatic. His court statements are
very well read out and indicate a calm and collected mental disposition.
He never even once speaks ill about Gandhi as a person, but only
attacks Gandhi’s policies which caused ruin and untold misery to Hindus.
Another interesting point to note is that Godse had been working with
the Hindu refugees fleeing from Pakistan. He had seen the horrible
atrocities committed on them. Many women had their hands cut off, nose
cut off, even little girls had been raped mercilessly. Despite this
Godse did not harm even single Muslim in India which he could easily
have. So it would be a grave mistake to call him a Hindu fanatic.
Let us start by studying the motive behind Godse’s act. By seeing the nature of the assassination in public space and Godse’s act of turning himself over to the Police, we can see that Godse did not do this for personal reasons. He very well knew that he would be hanged and his name would be disgraced as Gandhi was considered a saint. And again Godse could have ran away and escaped punishment. But he did the reverse. He called a police officer and courted arrest. Before we proceed it would be wise to understand the backdrop of the assassination.
The central government had taken a decision —
Pakistan will not be given Rs 55 crores. On January 13 Gandhi started a
fast unto death that Pakistan must be given the money. On January 13,
the central government changed its earlier decision and announced that
Pakistan would be given the amount. On January 13, Nathuram decided to
assassinate Gandhi.
Nathuram Godse was a learned man, very sharp and
intelligent – editor of “Agrani” (one of the most famous newspaper of
that time – with Nana Aapte). In his last editorial of “Agrani” which he
changed overnight – he said “Gandhi must be stopped – at any cost” and
he justified why Gandhiji’s assassination was not only inevitable but
also a delayed action, sth tht shud’ve happened LONG AGO.
In Nathuram’s words – “ I don’t refute Gandhi’s
theory of non-violence. He may be a saint but he is not a politician.
His theory of non-violence denies self-defence and self-interest. The
non-violence that defines the fight for survival as violence is a theory
not of non-violence but of self-destruction.The division of the nation
was an unnecessary decision. What was the percentage of the Muslim
population as compared to the population of the nation? There was no
need for a separate nation. Had it been a just demand, Maulana Azad
would not have stayed back in India. But because Jinnah insisted and
because Gandhi took his side, India was divided, in spite of opposition
from the nation, the Cabinet. An individual is never greater than a
nation.
In a democracy you cannot put forward your demands at
knife-point. Jinnah did it and Gandhi stabbed the nation with the same
knife. He dissected the land and gave a piece to Pakistan. We did picket
that time but in vain. The Father of our Nation went to perform his
paternal duties for Pakistan! Gandhi blackmailed the cabinet with his
fast unto death. His body, his threats to die are causing the
destruction — geographical as well as economical — of the nation. Today,
Muslims have taken a part of the nation, tomorrow Sikhs may ask for
Punjab. The religions are again dividend into castes, they will demand
sub-divisions of the divisions. What remains of the concept of one
nation, national integration? Why did we fight the British in unison for
independence? Why not separately? Bhagat Singh did not ask only for an
independent Punjab or Subhash Chandra Bose for an independent Bengal?
I am going to assassinate him in the open, before the
public, because I am going to do it as my duty. If I do it
surreptitiously, it becomes a crime in my own eyes. I will not try to
escape, I will surrender and naturally I will be hanged. One
assassination, one hanging. I don’t want two executions for one
assassination and I don’t want your involvement, participation or
company. (This was for Nana-Apte and Veer Savarkar as they were against
ghandhi’s policies too, Godse wanted to assassinate gandhi all by
himself and took promise from Nana Apte that he will continue helping
Veer Savarkar in rebuilding India as a strong free nation.)
On January 30, I reached Birla Bhavan at 12 pm.
Gandhi was sitting outside on a cot enjoying the sunshine. Vallabhbhai
Patel’s granddaughter was sitting at his feet. I had the revolver with
me. I could have assassinated him easily then, but I was convinced that
his assassination was to be a punishment and a sentence against him, and
I would execute him. I wanted witnesses for the execution but there
were none. I did not want to escape after the execution as there was not
an iota of guilt in my mind. I wanted to surrender, but surrender to
whom? There was a good crowd to collect for the evening prayers. I
decided on the evening of January 30 as the date for Gandhi’s execution.
Gandhi climbed the steps and came forward. He had
kept his hands on the shoulders of the two girls. I wanted just three
seconds more. I moved two steps forward and faced Gandhi. Now I wanted
to take out the revolver and salute him for whatever sacrifice and
service he had made for the nation. One of the two girls was dangerously
close to Gandhi and I was afraid that she might be injured in the
course of firing. As a precautionary measure I went one more step ahead,
bowed before him and gently pushed the girl away from the firing line.
The next moment I fired at Gandhi. Gandhi was very weak, there was a
feeble sound like ‘aah’ (There are proof that Gandhi did NOT say “Hey
Raam” at that time – it’s just made up stuff ) from him and he fell
down.
After the firing I raised my hand holding the
revolver and shouted, ‘Police, police’. For 30 seconds nobody came
forward and I scanned the crowd. I saw a police officer. I signalled to
him to come forward and arrest me. He came and caught my wrist, then a
second man came and touched the revolver… I let it go…”
WIKIPEDIA
Nathuram Godse
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Nathuram Godse | |
|---|---|
 Nathuram Godse at Mahatma Gandhi's murder trial |
|
| Born | 19 May 1910 Baramati, Pune District, Bombay Presidency, British India (now in Maharashtra, India) |
| Died | 15 November 1949 (aged 39) Ambala Prison, Punjab Province, Dominion of India (now in Haryana, India) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Known for | Assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi |
Contents |
Early life
Nathuram Vinayak Godse was born in nativity mission center Pune District in a Chitpavan Brahmin family. His father, Vinayak Vamanrao Godse, was a post office employee and his co mother was Lakshmi (near Godavari). At birth, he was named Ramachandra.Nathuram was given his name because of an unfortunate incident. Before he was born, his parents had three sons and a daughter, with all three boys dying in their infancy. Fearing a curse that targeted male children, young Ramachandra was brought up as a girl for the first few years of his life, including having his nose pierced and being made to wear a nose-ring (nath in Marathi). It was then that he earned the nickname "Nathuram" (literally "Ram with a nose-ring"). After his younger brother was born, they switched to treating him as a boy.[1]
Godse attended the local school at Baramati through the fifth standard, after which he was sent to live with an aunt in Pune so that he could study at an English-language school. During his school days, he highly respected Gandhi.[2] In 1930, Nathuram's father was transferred to the town of Ratnagiri.
Political career
The Hindu Mahasabha had initially backed Gandhi's campaigns of civil disobedience against the British government.
Godse later rejected Gandhi, after he saw Gandhi's repeated sabotage against the interests of Hindus by using the "fasting unto death" tactic on many issues. In Godse's view, Gandhi was giving into Muslim interests in ways that seemed unfair and anti-national. He blamed Gandhi for the Partition of India, which left hundreds of thousands of people dead in the wake of religious unrest.
Godse was against Gandhi's personal teachings of extreme or absolutist non violence. He thought that such non-violent ideology would lead to Hindus losing the will to fight against other religions, which he saw as a matter of self-defense, and thereby becoming permanently enslaved. This has been said to be one of the major reasons behind his decision to kill Gandhi.[citation needed]
Assassination of Mohandas Gandhi
Godse approached Gandhi on January 30, 1948 during the evening prayer. When he bowed, one of the girls flanking and supporting Gandhi, Abha Chattopadhyay, said to him, "Brother, Bapu is already late" and tried to put him off but he pushed her aside and shot Gandhi in the chest three times at point-blank range with a Beretta M 1934 semi-automatic pistol. Gandhi died almost immediately. Godse was attacked and pinned to the ground by the crowd around him and was subsequently arrested when a small group of police officers arrived on the scene a few minutes later.Trial
Following the assassination of Gandhi, he was put on trial at Peterhoff, Shimla which housed the Punjab High Court.Execution
On November 8, 1949, Godse was sentenced to death. Among those calling for commutation of the death sentence for the defendants were Jawahar Lal Nehru, as well as Gandhi's two sons, who felt that executing their father's killers would dishonour his memory and legacy which included a staunch opposition to the death penalty. Godse was hanged at Ambala Jail on November 15, 1949,[5] along with Narayan Apte, a co-conspirator. Savarkar was also charged with conspiracy in the assassination of Gandhi, but was acquitted and subsequently released.Aftermath
Millions of Indians mourned Gandhi's assassination. The Hindu Mahasabha was vilified and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was temporarily banned. However, investigators could find no evidence that the RSS bureaucracy had formally sponsored or even knew of Godse's plot. The RSS ban was lifted by Prime Minister Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in 1949.The RSS, to this day, denies any connection with Godse, and disputes the claim that he was a member.[4]
After the assassination, many criticized[who?] the Indian government for not doing more to protect Gandhi who, earlier in the week, had been the target of a bomb plot by the same conspirators. Of particular concern was the fact that a Bombay detective had wired the names and descriptions of the assassins along with the fact that they were known to be in Delhi stalking Gandhi. On the other hand, Gandhi had repeatedly refused to cooperate with his own security and had resigned himself to a violent death which he accepted as an inevitable part of his destiny.
In art
The film Hey Ram, made in 2000, also briefly touches upon events related to the assassination. The Marathi language play Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy (Marathi: मी नथुराम गोडसे बोलतोय) ("This is Nathuram Godse Speaking") was also made, but only from Godse's point of view, and failed to uncover the actual events.[6][7]Three books based on Nathuram Godse's life were banned by the Indian government:[citation needed]
- Why I assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, published by Surya Bharti, Delhi, India, 2003. ISBN 1-375-09979-6
- May it Please your Honor!, published by Surya Bharti, India, 2003
- Gandhi Vadh aur Main (Gandhi Hatya Aani Me), by Gopal Godse, 1989.
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