Monday 25 June 2012


Each year you enjoy a free holiday on 30th January, more popularly known as Martyr's Day. People tell their children about the country’s greatest man; his patriotism, his ideologies, his sacrifices and at last, his ruthless assassination. Most of us would like to believe that such a great man must have had a lot of enemies and one of them probably turned into an assassin.

But how many of you know the assassin’s side of the story?
Was the assassin even an enemy of Gandhi? Or was he a follower?


30 January 1948
12 p.m.
Birla Bhavan, Delhi  
A small girl is sitting next to Gandhi enjoying the bright sunlight outside the bhavan. She’s the daughter of Sardar Vallabhai Patel. Little do these two know that a few metres away there’s a man observing them stealthily. And he’s not unarmed.
                          He can easily shoot Gandhi from that distance, but there is a good chance that the girl might get seriously injured. At a slow pace, he starts to move towards Gandhi, reaches there, bows to him, pushes the girl away and shoots three times at a point blank range.
 ‘Aah’ cries out the feeble man and succumbs to his injuries. That was the end of the nation’s father.
The assassin starts scanning the crowd, his arms in the air, he shouts “Police, Police”. For 30 seconds nobody shows up. He spots a policeman, calls him and asks to get arrested. Taking note of the sight, the policeman grabs the assassin’s wrist and extends his hand towards the revolver.
Nathuram Godse let go off the revolver.




History has recorded Godse as one of the most sinister men for killing the greatest man this country ever had. So you obviously know that he was tried in court, his statements were recorded and finally death sentence was awarded.
What you don’t know is that Godse’s statements were concealed for decades from public and were released only a few years ago.

So, how does the editor of an eminent newspaper (Agrani), turn into the greatest assassin this country has ever encountered?


Well as we all know, Gandhi was a man of patriotism. Love for his country and its people were the basic ingredients of his nature. All he wanted to see was a free and united country. He never had an intention of separating the two communities (Hindus and Muslims).
So, why did he agree to the partition?
After partition, a lot of Hindu and Sikh refugees travelled back to India from Pakistan. Unfortunately, it was not a very stable scenario. Indeed, it was something so brutal which dissolves the very meaning of humanity. Hindu/Sikh women were raped in front of their husbands, young girls were abducted and they suffered even worse treatment. Refugee trains from West Laden (Pakistan) reached Delhi packed with dead bodies. Anybody who tried to flee away from the killers, was victimised to a level which can’t be described.
A million refugees reached Delhi, traumatized and devastated. Their families were shattered, loved ones were no more and life to them was nothing less than sheer tragedy.
Gandhi’s irrational behaviour at such peak times was the reason which led people like Godse to assassinate him.


According to Gandhi, the refugees should have been sent back to Pakistan, and instead the Muslims in Delhi had to be protected. This ideology obviously did not serve as a healing to the tragedies of the refugees.

Moving on, one of the most critical scenarios this country has ever witnessed is its partition. After the partition, Pakistan government demanded 55 crores worth cash reserves from India, which the former believed were due to them. Even at this time, Gandhi supported Pakistan’s demand and appealed to the Indian govt. by going on a fast until death.

Also, as you all know that Jinnah had demanded the state of Pakistan; he made this demand at knife-point and Gandhi agreed to this in the heat of the moment. Gandhi agreed to this just to put an end to the ongoing violence and Hindu-Muslim riots.
If you think a little deeper, this ideology of Gandhi has a big loophole. He did not take care that in the coming future of the country, any community in the country could demand for a different state by threatening the govt. by using violence and mass level disturbance. He did not consider the fact that there are so many communities in this country which could easily be provoked against each other and then the only solution they’ll look up to is partition.
The India-Pakistan partition would just be an inspiration to them and from that they could seek ways of dissecting the Indian land into numerous religion based countries. Wouldn’t other communities observe that how Gandhi supported Muslims in spite of the fact that they were dividing this country? Wouldn’t the slightest of inter-religion conflicts instigate these communities to look at partition as a viable solution?

Was this the idea of a free country?
Did Bhagat Singh die at the age of 23 for an independent India or an independent Khalistan?
Did S.C. Bose fight for this country or for an independent Bengal?













Nathuram Godse had nothing against Gandhi, all he wanted was to target was the ideology of Gandhi.  He could have easily killed him secretly, but he wanted to tell the world of how Gandhi was a saint, but was not a good politician and how he had fallen astray from the idea of a united nation.


So, was the assassination of M.K. Gandhi justified?
All opinions would be highly appreciated.

Thanks!

If you would to like to read the actual statements of Godse, here’s the link: