Power Politics - independent voice for public good

Advertise with us

Power Plitics

Current Issue: July 2009

WasGodse A Martyr?

Was Nathuram Godse a martyr who killed Mahatma Gandhi for a national cause? No, a jobless, unmarried and mentally sick man at 38, he was hardly even a normal human being, finds veteran journalist K VIKRAM RAO

Six decades ago when Nathuram Vinayak Godse, 38, assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, 79, he had earned notoriety in history like Judas for getting Jesus crucified. There is, however, a countinued presence of a lunatic fringe in our society which portrays Godse not as an individual but as one representing a philosophy, a thought-process.

A small sect at Sadashivpeth in Pune. Gopal Godse's house, still "celebrates" November 15, the day Nathuram was hanged. Nothing will seem farther from truth if one traces his background.

Who was this Nathuram ? A thinker, political leader of standing, a freedom fighter? None. He was hardly known outside his small Sadashivpeth locality in Pune.

Godse was a drop-out from Sangli's mission school. He knew no English. His knowledge of Maralhi was of low standard. After

failing in school exams, he took to a tailoring job. His father, Vinayak Godse, was a postal clerk on a monthly salary of Rs, 5. To support a large family, Nathuram worked hard as a tailor in Sangli. His father's affection for him was intense because after the childhood deaths of three brothers and one sister Nathuram was born.

Later were born to him three more children, including Gopal, a fellow accused. Nathuram also used to practise a strange tantrik system. He would apply kaajal to a copper plate, light two oil lamps, and questions from the people around and try to read the answers, staring at the plate as if a divine hand was writing them. Nathuram's otherwise uneventful youth does not present him as a firebrand revolutionary or crusader as his other contemporaries in Pune and elsewhere were. Born in 1910, short-statured, just five feet, well built, cat-eyed, Nathuram's first known political act was in August 1944 when Hindu Mahasahha leader L.G. Thatte picketed Sewagram to prevent Mahatma Gandhi from meeting Mohammad Ali Jinnah for talks to avert the partition of India.

Nathuram, a middle-aged by then, was a volunteer in the Thatte-led troopers. His other known public appearance was in the following year at Shimla when the British viceroy had invited the Congress and Muslim League leaders for talks.

Nathuram was there, posing as a journalist for an unknown Pune newspaper.
During the police raids on Godse's places in Pune soon after the assassination of Gandhi, huge cache of arms and weapons was found.

Godse reportedly collected these weapons to fight against the Nizam of Hyderabad but never used them. He also raised funds from Mumbai and Poona businessmen for his Hindu Rasthra Organisation.

All this evidence leads one to believe that Godse was basically a hired assassin. According to some authentic jail medical reports, he suffered from migraine and other brain ailments. A jobless, unmarried and mentally sick man at 38, Godse was hardly a normal human being.His first attempt to kill Mahatma Gandhi was on January 20, 1948, when he was with Punjabi refugee Madanlal Pahwa who hurled a bomb on Gandhiji's prayer meeting at New Delhi's Birla House. But when the bomb missed its target and Pahwa was caught, Godse slipped out and escaped to Mumbai. He returned ten days later to do his unfinished job.

A small incident at the time when he fired three bullets at a point blank range on Gandhiji shows whether Godse was a devout Hindu at all. When he neared Gandhiji and stood in front, Manu Gandhi, the Mahatma's granddaughter, persuaded Godse to let Gandhiji move as he was already late for the prayer meeting. Godse pushed Manu aside and in the process the rosary and Ashram prayer book fell on the ground from Manu's hand. Godse trampled on them, took out his pistol and committed the century's most heinous crime.

How diabolical was his aim can be noticed from the fact that Godse, when caught by the people at the prayer meeting, posed as a Muslim. The obvious purpose was that in one stroke he would kill the Mahatma and as an aftermath the wrath would be on the Muslims of India. For unknown reasons. Jawaharlal Nehru did not mention, in his address over All India Radio soon after the assassination, the killer's name and religion. It was Sardar Vallabhabhai Patel who rushed to All Indian Radio and announced that a Hindu had killed Mahatma Gandhi. This saved the situation. Or else another riot would have occurred in India.

To those who have sought to portray Godse as different from a cruel murderer, three facts must be presented. First, just two weeks before he killed Gandhiji, Godse had heavily insured himself and nominated his family members and friends as beneficiaries. Did such an act behove a man claiming to accomplish a historic role ?

Second, in his subsequent attempts to escape capital punishment, his defence counsel argued at the trial that an eyewitness had said that smoke emanated from his pistol while another eyewitness said he did not see it. So benefit of doubt could be granted to Godse.

Last, the timing of Gandhiji's assassination on January 30, 1948 is very significant. Newspapers of that period were full of reports of a deepening rift between Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Patel. To bring the two stalwarts together Gandhiji had asked Sardar Patel to meet him for discussion at 4 p.m., an hour before his prayer meeting. Nehru was given appointment at 7 p.m. the same evening, after the prayer meeting. Both were to meet Gandhiji together later for a possible reconciliation.

A reconciliation between the two national leaders was bound to damage the cause of Hindu fundamentalists who wanted to seize power through public sympathy, aroused due to partition and massacre of Hindus in west Punjab and Sind provinces.

Some may still paint Nathuram Godse as a man with high-sounding philosophy, a historic mission and moral character. The basis is his last statement presented in writing to the court, spelling out his reasons for killing Gandhiji. Well, there were enough Hindu fundamenlalist lunatics outside, known for incisive mind and mastery over the English language. Any one of them could have authored Godse's last statement. It sounds like a demented student securing distinction marks after outright copying in the examinations.

Editor's Choice

Iranian Turmoil..

Of Life & Colour..

Archive

----------------------------

Archive


© Copyright Power Politics 2008 -2009