Why did Godse kill Gandhi?

After all, for what reasons did Nathuram Godse kill Mahatma Gandhi?

After his arrest, Godse recognized Gandhi’s son Devdas Gandhi (father of Rajmohan Gandhi) when he reached the police station to meet Godse. This meeting has been mentioned by Nathuram’s brother and co-accused Gopal Godse in his book Gandhi Vadh Kyun.

Gopal Godse was not hanged, he was sentenced to imprisonment. When Devdas Gandhi reached the police station at Sansad Marg after his father’s murder, Nathuram Godse recognized him.

Gopal Godse has written in his book, “Devdas might have come in the hope that he would see someone with a hideous face, a murderer thirsty for Gandhi’s blood, but Nathuram was easy-going and gentle. He had self-confidence. As Devdas did, Quite the opposite than you would have thought.”

Of course we don’t know whether this would actually have been the case.

That meeting with Devdas

Nathuram said to Devdas Gandhi, “I am Nathuram Vinayak Godse. Editor of the Hindi newspaper Hindu Rashtra. I was also there (where Gandhi was assassinated). Today you have lost your father. Because of me you have suffered. You But I am also deeply saddened by the pain that has been caused to your family. Please believe me, I have not done this out of any personal grudge, neither do I have any hatred towards you nor any bad feelings.”

Devdas then asked, “Then, why did you do this?”

In response Nathuram said, “Only and only because of political reasons.”

Nathuram asked for time from Devdas to present his side but the police did not allow him to do so. Nathuram had given his statement in the court, which was banned by the court.

Gopal Godse has mentioned Nathuram’s will in the paragraph of his book. The last line of which is – “If the government lifts the ban on my statement given in the court, whenever that happens, I authorize you to publish it.”

Godse’s statement in court

Then what is there in Nathuram’s statement? In it Nathuram has mentioned these aspects-

Firstly, he respected Gandhi. He had said, “I have seriously read whatever Veer Savarkar and Gandhiji have written or spoken. In my opinion, during the last thirty years, both of them have had more impact on the thought and action of the Indian people than anyone else. And the thing didn’t.”

Secondly, Nathuram said, “After reading and thinking about these, I am convinced that my first responsibility is for Hindutva and Hindus, being a patriot and a world citizen. To protect the freedom and interests of 30 crore Hindus. It will automatically protect the whole of India, where every fifth person in the world lives. This thinking brought me closer to the ideology and program of the Hindu organization. In my opinion, only this ideology can give freedom to India and maintain it.”

After this perspective Nathuram thought about Gandhi. “When Gandhi, who had been inspiring thoughts for 32 years, kept his last fast in favor of Muslims, I came to the conclusion that Gandhi’s existence would have to be ended immediately. Gandhi was committed to providing rights to the people of the Indian community in South Africa. Disha had done excellent work, but when he came to India, his mentality became such that he started considering himself as the final judge to decide what is right and what is wrong.

If the country wanted his leadership, it was like accepting his invincibility. If the country did not accept his leadership, he would have started walking on a different path from the Congress.”

allegations against Mahatma

This thinking instigated Nathuram to assassinate Gandhi. Nathuram also said, “There cannot be two ways with this thinking. Either the Congress would have to leave its path for Gandhi and adopt all the eccentricities, thinking, philosophy and outlook of Gandhi or else it would have to move ahead without Gandhi. ”

The third allegation was that Gandhi helped in the creation of Pakistan. Nathuram said, “When senior Congress leaders, with the consent of Gandhi, were deciding to partition the country, the country which we have been worshiping, I was filled with immense anger. I personally have no ill will towards anyone. No, but I want to say that I do not respect the present government because their policies were in favor of Muslims. But at the same time I clearly see that these policies were only because of the presence of Gandhi.”

There were problems with Nathuram’s arguments. For example, he thought that Gandhi was enthusiastic about the partition of the country, whereas according to history, the case was exactly the opposite. He said that Gandhi was a dictator in the Congress, but he also said that Gandhi had to go on a hunger strike to get his point across in the Congress. Why would a dictator need to do anything except give orders?

hate ideology

Nathuram questioned Gandhi’s last hunger strike (which he did over India’s refusal to release funds to Pakistan), but he did this when India was going back on its own promise. On this occasion, Gandhi had shown the right and appropriate path to the country.

Whatever Nathuram said in the court cannot be agreed with on the basis of logic. This is also contrary to the statement given to Devdas. He did not kill Gandhi just because of politics.

He hated Gandhi’s secular ideology. This was completely contrary to the true spirit of Hinduism and was ‘brainwashed’ by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

The reality is that there is no path or method of Gandhi on which questions can be raised. This is the reason why even after decades, his global credibility as a politician remains intact.In 1949, George Orwell wrote about Gandhi, “One can be averse to Gandhi from an aesthetic point of view, as I feel. One can also reject his claim to be a Mahatma (although the Mahatma’s claim to be (He himself never made this claim.) One can dismiss sadhuism as an ideal and hence assume that Gandhi’s core sentiments were anti-human and reactionary.

But when we look at him as a politician and compare him with other politicians of the present time, we see what a fragrant experience he has left behind.”

The same is true about Gandhi even today in 2015, whereas Nathuram Godse’s complaints have disappeared in the mist of time.