Nathuram Vinayak Godse was the murderer of Mahatma Gandhi. He was a right-wing supporter of Hindu nationalism. He was a member of right-wing organisations; Hindu Mahasabha and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. After the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, he never apologized for his actions.
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Wiki/Biography
Nathuram Godse was born on 19 May 1910 (age at death: 39 years) in a Marathi Chitpavan Brahmin family in Baramati, Pune district, Bombay Presidency, British India. His father Vinayak Wamanrao Godse was an employee in the post office. His real name was Ramchandra. However, to prevent any bad omen, his name was changed to Nathuram. Before his birth, his parents had three sons and one daughter. All his sons died in childhood. Fearing a curse, Ramachandra was raised as a girl and had his nose pierced (hence, he was named Nathuram, the person with the nose pierced). When his brother, Gopal Godse, was born, his parents started treating him as a boy. In his childhood, he went to a local school to receive his primary education. Later, he was sent to his aunt in Pune to receive English language education. Earlier he was an admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and respected him a lot. He failed in matriculation and could not pursue further studies.
Family
He was born to Vinayak Vamanrao Godse and Lakshmi. He had a brother, Gopal Godse (died 2005) and a sister, her name not known.
Gopal Godse, brother of Nathuram Godse
He remained unmarried throughout his life.
Life story/career
When he left studies he joined the Hindu nationalist organisation, Hindu Mahasabha. He started a Marathi language newspaper named “Agrani”, which was renamed “Hindu Rashtra” a few years later. Since he felt that Mahatma Gandhi was only favoring Muslims, he rejected the Gandhian philosophy and at times, he considered Gandhi anti-national. In 1932, he became a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Sangli, Bombay Presidency (now in Maharashtra), British India, however, he remained a member of the Hindu Mahasabha. He often wrote articles to make the public aware of his views. During this time, he, along with MS Golwalkar (later, RSS chief), translated Babarao Savarkar’s book “Rashtra Mimansa” into English. According to sources, when Golwalkar took the entire credit for the translation of the book, he had a rift with Golwalkar. On the day of Vijayadashami in 1942, he established his organization “Hindu Rashtra Dal”. However, he remained a member of the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS. In 1946, after Godse realized that the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha were not doing a good job of preventing the partition of India, he left the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha. Due to this his relations with many RSS and Mahasabha volunteers deteriorated.
assassination of mahatma gandhi
First Attempt
Godse expressed grief over the partition of India. He held Mahatma Gandhi responsible for this. He and his friends made the first attempt to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi on 20 January 1948. That day, Gandhiji was staying at Birla House in New Delhi and was praying on a raised lawn there. Gandhiji had to give a speech in a nearby park. Godse and his friends were armed with hand grenades and went to the place where Gandhiji was giving a speech. One of his friends first threw a grenade to disperse the crowd and the second to kill Mahatma Gandhi but his friend Digambar Baij lost courage and all his friends ran away with the scared crowd.
second try
The second attempt to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi was made on 30 January 1948 by Nathuram Godse himself and his friend Narayan Apte, along with seven other associates. Narayan Apte conspired to murder. Mahatma Gandhi was on his way to his prayer meeting at Birla House and he was already 10 minutes late. Gandhiji was accompanied by Manuben (Gandhi’s great-granddaughter) on the right and Abha (a girl adopted by Mahatma Gandhi) on the left. Nathuram Godse, dressed in khaki, passed through the crowd. He folded his hands to make others feel that he wanted to touch Gandhiji’s feet. Manuben tried to push him aside, saying, “Bapu is already ten minutes late, why do you embarrass him.” According to him, Godse pushed him aside and at 5:17 pm he shot Gandhiji three times in the chest. He saw smoke everywhere, Gandhiji’s hands were folded and he was trying to say ‘Hey Ram’. Gandhiji was taken to a room near Birla House where he was declared dead. Colonel Bhargava arrived and announced the death of Mahatma Gandhi.
dead body of mahatma gandhi
arrest and trial
Herbert Renner Jr., an American diplomat, was standing near Mahatma Gandhi when he was assassinated. They immediately caught Nathuram Godse. According to some people, Nathuram Godse surrendered and did not try to escape. The trial began on 27 May 1948. Eight of the nine were charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
Group photo of people accused of murdering Mahatma Gandhi
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was acquitted due to lack of evidence and released. On 10 February 1949, Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were sentenced to death and six others, including Gopal Godse (Nathuram Godse’s brother), were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Nathuram Godse (red circle) with Narayan Apte and other convicts.
Apart from Godse, all appealed for mercy petition or less severe punishment but were rejected. Godse proudly accepted the death sentence. Even Gandhiji’s two sons; Manilal Gandhi and Ramdas Gandhi appealed for amnesty but their appeals were rejected by the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Deputy Prime Minister, Vallabhbhai Patel and even the Governor-General of India, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. On 15 November 1949, Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were hanged in Ambala jail.
fact
- The pistol used by Nathuram Godse to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi was “Beretta M1934” which was made in the Kingdom of Italy. This pistol was carried by an officer during the Italian invasion of Abyssinia and later, it was taken as a war trophy by a British officer. How it reached India is not known.
The gun used by Nathuram Godse
- His explanation, “Why did I kill Gandhi?” During this he said that Gandhiji supported the idea of a separate state for Muslims. According to him, he was responsible for the partition of India. Despite Pakistani aggression in Kashmir, Mahatma Gandhi fasted to force the Indian government to release a sum of Rs. Rs 55 crore to Pakistan. The aggressive and war-loving nature of Muslims was the result of Gandhiji’s policy of appeasement.
- When Nathuram Godse was explaining why he assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, GD Khosla, one of the judges hearing the assassination proceedings, wrote –
“The audience was clearly and audibly impressed. When he stopped speaking there was a deep silence. (…) However, I have no doubt that if the audience of that day had been constituted into a jury and tasked with deciding Godse’s appeal, they would have returned a verdict of “not guilty” by an overwhelming majority .
– GD Khosla, Chief Justice of Punjab
- Nathuram Godse’s brother, Gopal Godse, wrote a memoir “May I Please Your Honour” and published it in 1967. However, the Indian government immediately banned it because it would spread hatred between Hindus and Muslims. The ban was lifted when the new government came to power in 1977.
- In 2014, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power, the Hindu Mahasabha made some efforts to rehabilitate Nathuram Godse and portray him as a patriot. In this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was requested to install the statue of Nathuram Godse. Hindu Mahasabha also made a documentary film named “Deshbhakt Nathuram Godse” (Deshbhakt Nathuram Godse).
- During the election campaign for the 2019 general elections, BJP candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya had called him a patriot.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn