Mahatma Gandhi was shot at 5-12 p.m. to-day and he died fifteen minutes later. on 30 January 1948
Gandhi ji left his room in Birla House for the prayer meeting a few minutes after the conclusion of his talk with Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel. He passed through the garden leaning on the shoulders of Ava Gandhi and Manu Gandhi, grand daughter-in-law and grand niece.
verdict of 'not Guilty' by an overwhelming majority"
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Gandhi ji left his room in Birla House for the prayer meeting a few minutes after the conclusion of his talk with Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel. He passed through the garden leaning on the shoulders of Ava Gandhi and Manu Gandhi, grand daughter-in-law and grand niece.
As he walked up the four steps leading to the prayer mandap, a young
man, aged about 35, came before Gandhi ji and, bending his body forward
at a distance of less than two yards, offered pranam. Gandhi ji returned
the salute, when the young man remarked “You are late to-day for the
prayer.” Gandhi ji smiled and replied, “Yes, I am”; but just at that
moment, the young man pulled out his revolver and rang out three shots
from point-blank range, the bullets piercing the frail body of the great
leader just below the heart and stomach. Immediately, Gandhi ji
collapsed; but Ava Gandhi and Manu Gandhi stuck to their place by his
side and held him firmly. But that was the last of the Nation’s Father.
It was then 5.12 p.m.
The last act Gandhi ji did was to lift both his hands as a sign of prayer
in the direction of the large gathering which had assembled for the
prayer. Thereafter, he was speechless and the loss of blood, at his age
and so soon after his fast, made death inevitable. He was beyond medical
aid even from the start when shock had its effect. Lord Mountbatten and
Cabinet Ministers, including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and others soon arrived.
The Ministers present held consultations among themselves as to the
future course of action.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who returned from Amritsar this afternoon, did
not have an opportunity to meet Gandhiji. Pandit Nehru came out to
address the huge gathering of nearly two lakhs which had surrounded
Birla House, but broke down with grief more than once when he spoke. The
leaders, including Pandit Nehru, who were present, were dazed and
perplexed, while tears overflowed down the cheeks of countless women and
men both inside and outside Birla House. The grief-struck crowd, which
went on swelling in numbers, were making their way into the main
building to have a last glimpse of the departed leader. Glass windows
were broken. But the crowd restrained itself and leaders soon made
arrangements to let the crowd see Mahatma Gandhi.
Assassin beaten by crowd
The assassin, soon after he fired the shots, was seized by the people
who had come to attend the prayer. His revolver — a six-chambered one —
and some cash were recovered. It appears he was beaten by the crowd and
was slightly injured. The police have taken him into custody and
investigation is proceeding. It is learnt that the name of the assassin
is Nathuram Vinayak Godse (aged 36), a Mahratta. He described himself as
the Editor of a daily paper called Hindu Rashtra published in Laxmipet, Poona.
He wore khaki pants and tunic. There is no truth in the report that he
attempted to commit suicide by putting a bullet into himself.
Nathuram Godse was arrested immediately after he assassinated Gandhiji, based on a F. I.. R. filed by Nandlal Mehta at the Tughlak Road Police station at Delhi . The trial, which was held in camera, began on 27th May 1948 and concluded on 10th February 1949. He was sentenced to death. An appeal to the Punjab High Court, then in session at Simla, did not find favourable and the sentence was upheld. The statement that you are about to read is the last made by Godse before the Court on the 5th of May 1949.
Such was the power and eloquence of this statement that one of the judges, G. D. Khosla, later wrote, "I have, however, no doubt that had the audience of that day been constituted into a jury and entrusted with the task of deciding Godse's appeal, they would have brought averdict of 'not Guilty' by an overwhelming majority"
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Why Godse Killed Gandhi?
Why Godse Killed Gandhi???
He was not the first leader to be felled by an assassin’s bullet, nor is he the only eminent Indian, or South Asian for that matter, to fall victim to an elaborate murder conspiracy.
But Gandhi’s
assassination was different. Not only his killers were Hindu, they
killed a man who had by then come to be regarded at home and abroad as
an “apostle of peace” and symbolized the unique doctrine of
‘non-violence’. In those early days of freedom, it was unthinkable that
anybody would dare raise a finger, leave alone a gun, at Gandhi. Yet
Nathuram Vinayak Godse did the unthinkable, with more than a little help
from Narayan Apte, Vishnu Karkare, Gopal Godse, Madanlal Pahwa and
Digambar Badge. Godse assassinated Gandhi on January 30, 1948,
approaching him during the evening prayer, bowing, and shooting him
three times at close range with a Beretta semi-automatic pistol.
Immediately after this, he surrendered himself to police. Nathuram
Godse, Apte and their accomplices look remarkably relaxed during the
trial, unconcerned about the possibility of being sentenced to death –
eventually Godse and Apte were hanged; Karkare, Gopal Godse, Pahwa were
sentenced to life imprisonment. They never regretted their deed.
Those were terrible days. Hindu and Sikh
refugees from Pakistan were struggling to keep body and soul together.
Many of them had lost their loved ones in the partition riots — women
were raped in front of their husbands and children; young girls were
abducted; men were disemboweled; trains arrived laden with dead bodies;
people fleeing marauders were set upon with ferocious brutality.
Madanlal Pahwa, a young refugee, Malgonkar writes, “reached a place
called Fazilka, in Indian Territory, and discovered that another refugee
column in which his father and other relatives had set out, had fared
much worse. They had been attacked by Jihadi mobs: ‘Only 40 or 50 had
survived out of 400 or 500…’.” Delhi was flooded by nearly one million
refugees, all of them desperately looking for food and shelter. They
were distraught and traumatized, unable to figure out why their lives
had been turned upside down in so gruesome a manner. Nor could they
understand the rationale behind protecting Delhi’s Muslims. What left
them aghast was Gandhi’s insistence that Hindu and Sikh refugees should
be sent back to Pakistan and Muslims who had left India be brought back.
It didn’t make sense. Nor did the vicious blood-letting that followed.
Meanwhile, Pakistan had launched its mission to smash and grab Jammu
& Kashmir and was demanding that India hand over Rs 55 crore, its
share of the cash reserve inherited from the departing British colonial
Government.
After independence
Gandhi used to start Satyagraha on every issue which went directly
against the interest of India. Gandhi started hunger strike against
sending of troops to Kashmir after Pakistani invasion. He was in favour
of ahinsha Satyagraha against Pakistani invaders. In west Punjab, lakhs
of Sikhs were killed and their body dispatched by train. In reaction to
this, Sikhs started to retaliate here. Gandhi started hunger strike
again to prevent it.
The proverbial
last straw was Gandhi’s threat to go on a fast to force the Government
of India to accept Pakistan’s demand of Rs 55 Crore. In all fairness, it
needs to be recalled that Jawaharlal Nehru was opposed to the idea: He
famously declared that giving the money to Pakistan would mean providing
it with “sinews of war”. The old man was not listening: In the end,
Gandhi had his way although people were aghast. But did this gross act
of injustice to the people of India and the callous disregard for the
sentiments of millions of refugees — half-a-million people perished in
the violence, 12 million were rendered homeless — justify Nathuram
Godse’s action? What inspired Narayan Apte, son of a well-known
historian and Sanskrit scholar, to decide on January 13 (the day Gandhi
declared he would go on a fast to press Pakistan’s demand for Rs 55
crore) that he must turn into a killer? What was Madanlal Pahwa’s role
in the conspiracy? And why did Badge turn approver?
Godse 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.
Then what was the
motive behind Godse’s act??? 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 and that should’ve happened LONG
AGO.
He knew exactly
what he is going to do. In Nathuram’s Words – “Assassination is never as
easy as picking up a rifle and pulling the trigger, assassination is
never an accident. Yes, murder could be an accident but not
assassination. In this case of Gandhi, it could never be…”
Did he tamper with an
important era of history?? He said – “I differ with the word era. It
could be a page, a leaf of history. Certainly not an era. If we don’t
turn this page today, the rest of the pages of the history of our nation
will remain unwritten, blank…”
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.
Also according to one
source, after the state of Pakistan was formed administrative problems
started to crop up. Therefore Pakistan came up with a proposal to link
East Pakistan (the present day Bangladesh) and West Pakistan. According
to the plan a road (you could say an area) 10 km wide would be linking
the east division with the west. Now the RSS activists feared that if
Pakistan requested Gandhi to sanction such a proposal then Gandhi would
readily agree and the Mahatma’s would be the final word as he was the
father of the nation. They knew that Gandhi was Pakistan’s best lobby so
they had him eliminated through Godse. I wonder what would have
happened if we had allowed a road to be built across our country. I just
can’t imagine.
In
the Hindu Rashtra daily dated 9/7/1947, Godse had given the following
message to the fellow Indians. “Brothers! Our mother land has been cut
into pieces. The eagles have torn her skin into bits. Hindu women are
being raped in the middle of the road. How long can we tolerate this?
It’s a shame that lakhs of Hindus live like refugees in their own
country. Women being raped burn my heart.”
He
warned Gandhiji “Gandhiji! By approving the Pakistan partition, you have
stabbed the nation. Unless you change your activities, you must face
harsh consequences. We consider the dividers of our nation as traitors
our nation.”
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. But Gandhi has
stared considering himself greater than the nation.
We
never opposed a Muslim prime minister. 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?
At
the time of Partition, when Suharawady surrendered only due to political
pressure, but only Suharawady, not his followers…they went on with the
massacre. Gandhi started his fast; the Hindus put their weapons down. I
still remember that day. A poor Hindu told Gandhi, ‘I am putting down my
weapons because I don’t want your death on my conscience but I am
staying alone with my family in the Muslim area. That night, before
leaving Hyderabad I visited his home. The whole household was screaming,
weeping, his only eight-year-old son had been killed by the Muslims. He
had no weapon to defend himself. He threw his son’s body on my lap and
said, “Take his blood to your Mahatma. Tell him, if he goes on fast
again, he can finish it by drinking not orange-juice but my son’s
blood.” I could not say anything. Gandhi was the Father of my Nation.
For a moment, I was tempted to pull out the Muslims from their homes and
chop them down. But I controlled myself. Violence for self-defence is
justified; otherwise it is an ill-cultured act. I returned to where
Gandhi was staying but he had already left by car. Of course, there
would have been no point in meeting him… he would only have prayed for
both the killer and the victim.
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 Gandhi’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.
It
was 4.45 pm when I reached the gate of Birla Bhavan. The security staff
at the gate was scrutinising the crowd entering and I was a little
worried about them. I mingled with a small group of people and sneaked
inside. It was 5.10 pm when I saw Gandhi and his close associates coming
to the prayer place from his room inside. I approached the passage from
where he was likely to climb the steps of the lawn, in such a way that I
was covered by a few people.
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 Ram” at that time –
it’s just made up stuff) from him and he fell down.
Those
who were close to me saw the weapon in my hand. They rushed away from
the spot. Gandhi had fallen to the ground, I was standing and the crowd
had formed a ring around us.
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, and then a second man came and touched the
revolver… I let it go…”
Trial and execution
Following
his assassination of Gandhi, he was put on trial beginning May 27,
1948. During the trial, he did not defend any charge and openly admitted
that he killed Gandhi. On November 8, 1949 Godse was sentenced to death
for the murder. Godse’s legal team was savaged by critics for not
introducing considerable evidence that their client was mentally
unbalanced and/or manipulated by others. Among those calling for
commutation of the death sentence for both defendants were Nehru and
Gandhi’s two sons who felt that the two men on trial were pawns of RSS
higher-ups and, in any case, executing their fathers’ 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,
along with Narayan Apte, the other conspirator. Savarkar was also
charged with conspiracy in the assassination of Gandhi, but was
acquitted and subsequently released. Godse stipulated that his ashes
were not to be deposited in a body of water according to Hindu dictates,
but rather were to be held in storage until they could be deposited in
The Sindhu after Pakistan had been reunited with India. For years, his
brother kept Godse’s ashes over his fireplace and held an annual salute
to “the hero martyrs” on the anniversary of the assassination.