Nathuram Vinayak Godse | |
|---|---|
 Godse at his trial for the murder of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 | |
| Born | Ramachandra Vinayak Godse (1910-05-19)19 May 1910 |
| Died | 15 November 1949(1949-11-15) (aged 39) |
| Cause of death | Strangulation due tobotched execution byhanging[1] |
| Organization(s) | Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Hindu Mahasabha |
| Known for | Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Conviction | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | Mahatma Gandhi |
| Date | 30 January 1948 |
| Weapon | Beretta M 1934semi-automatic pistol |
| Writing career | |
| Notable works | Why I Killed Gandhi |
| Relatives | Gopal Godse (brother) |
Nathuram Vinayak Godse (19 May 1910 – 15 November 1949) (pronunciationⓘ) was an IndianHindu nationalist and political activist who assassinatedMahatma Gandhi.[2][3] Heshot Gandhi in the chest three times atpoint blank range at amulti-faithprayer meeting inBirla House inNew Delhi on 30 January 1948.[4][5]
Godse was a member of the political party, theHindu Mahasabha;[1] and a member of theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu paramilitary volunteer organization;[6] and a popularizer of the work of his mentorVinayak Damodar Savarkar, who had created the ideology ofHindutva.[7]
Godse had two unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi in 1944 before he succeeded the third time.[8] After the 1948 assassination, Godse claimed Gandhi favoured the political demands ofBritish India's Muslims during thepartition of India of 1947.[4][9][10] Soon after Mahatma Gandhi had fallen from the fatal shots at the prayer meeting, and while the attendant crowd was in shock, Godse was grasped and restrained byHerbert Reiner Jr., a vice-consul at the new American embassy in Delhi who was also attending; eventually, Godse was taken away by the police.[11][12][13] Godse had plotted the assassination withNarayan Apte and six others. After a trial that lasted over a year, Godse wassentenced to death on 8 November 1949. Although pleas for clemency were made by Gandhi's two sons,Manilal Gandhi andRamdas Gandhi, they were turned down by India's prime ministerJawaharlal Nehru, deputy prime ministerVallabhbhai Patel, and Governor-GeneralChakravarti Rajagopalachari,[14] and Godse was executed at theAmbala Central Jail on 15 November 1949.[15]
Nathuram Vinayakrao Godse was born into aMaharashtrianChitpavan Brahmin family.[16] His father, Vinayak Vamanrao Godse, was a postal employee; his mother was Lakshmi (née Godavari). At birth, he was named Ramachandra.[17] Nathuram was given his name due to his parents' fear that a curse targeted their male children, caused by the loss of their three previous sons. Young Ramachandra was therefore brought up as a girl for the first few years of his life, including having his nose pierced and being made to wear a nose-ring (nath inMarathi). It was then that he earned the nickname "Nathuram" (literally "Ram with a nose-ring"). After his younger brother was born, they switched to treating him as a boy.[18]
Godse attended the local school atBaramati through the fifth standard, after which he was sent to live with an aunt inPune so that he could study at an English-language school.[citation needed]
Godse dropped out of high school and became an activist with Hindu nationalist organisationsRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS; National Volunteer Organisation) andHindu Mahasabha, although the exact dates of his membership are uncertain.[19][20]
Godse joined RSS inSangli (Maharashtra) in 1932 as aboudhik karyawah (ground worker), and simultaneously remained a member of theHindu Mahasabha, both right-wing organisations. He often wrote articles in newspapers to publicise his thoughts. During this time, Godse andM. S. Golwalkar, laterRSS chief, often worked together, and they translated Babarao Savarkar's book "Rashtra Mimansa" into English. They had a falling out when Golwalkar took the entire credit for this translation.[citation needed] In the early 1940s, Godse formed his own organisation, "Hindu Rashtra Dal"[21] on theVijayadashami day of 1942,[22] though he continued to remain a member of the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha.[23]
In 1946, Godse claimed to have left the RSS and moved to the Hindu Mahasabha over the issue of the partition of India. However, historical sources do not corroborate this claim; an investigation published byThe Caravan in January 2020 revealed that up until his final days, Godse was listed as a member in records kept by the RSS of meetings that took place long after he was supposed to have left the organisation.[24] His family has also said that he had never left the RSS, highlighting that he held membership at the RSS as well as the Hindu Mahasabha.[25] Godse's 1946 claim is also refuted by his first deposition in Marathi after he assassinated Gandhi, where he says that while he did join the Hindu Mahasabha, "I remained active in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh."
In May 1944, Godse attempted to assassinate Gandhi with a knife. He led a group of 15 to 20 young men who rushed at Gandhi during a prayer meeting atPanchgani. Godse and his group was prevented by the crowds from reaching Gandhi. He was released due to Gandhi's own policy of declining to press criminal charges.[8]
In September 1944, Godse again led another group to block Gandhi's passage fromSevagram toMumbai. This time Godse was arrested with a dagger and he uttered threats to kill Gandhi. He was released again owing to Gandhi's policy of not pressing criminal charges.[8]
At 05:05 pm on 30 January 1948, as Gandhi made his way to a prayer meeting on a raised lawn behindBirla House, a mansion in New Delhi, where he was staying, Godse stepped out of the crowd flanking his path to the dais. He fired three bullets into Gandhi's chest.[11] Gandhi fell immediately, sending the attendant crowd into a state of shock.[11]Herbert Reiner Jr., a 32-year-old vice-consul at the new American embassy in Delhi, was the first to rush forward and grasp Godse by the shoulders, spinning him into the arms of some military personnel, who disarmed him.[26][11] Reiner then held Godse by the neck and shoulders until he was taken away by the military and police.[13][12] Reiner reported later that in the moments before he apprehended him, Godse looked a little stunned at how easily he had carried out his plan.[27] Gandhi was taken back to his room inBirla House, where he died soon thereafter.[28]
Godse was put on trial at thePunjab High Court, atPeterhoff, Shimla. On 8 November 1949, he was sentenced to death. Although pleas for commutation were made by Gandhi's two sons,Manilal Gandhi andRamdas Gandhi, they were turned down by India's prime ministerJawaharlal Nehru, deputy prime ministerVallabhbhai Patel and Governor-GeneralChakravarti Rajagopalachari,[14] and Godse was hanged atAmbala Central Jail on 15 November 1949.[15]
Millions of Indians mourned Gandhi's assassination; theHindu Mahasabha was vilified and theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was temporarily banned.
The RSS has consistently denied any connection with Godse. It has maintained, contrary to evidence and accounts cited earlier, that Godse "left RSS in the mid-1930s".[29] However, Nathuram Godse's brother Gopal Godse stated that all the Godse brothers were members of the RSS at the time of the assassination and blamed the RSS for disowning them.[30] The other members of the Godse family too have denied that he ever left the RSS. He remained in the position ofboudhik karyawah (intellectual worker) in the RSS until his death.[23][31][32]
The assassination Mahatma Gandhi has been portrayed in retrospect as an act of Hindutva fanatical terror.[33] In the 2011 bookGodse's Children: Hindutva Terror in India,[34] journalist Subhash Gatade called the assassination "the first terrorist act in independent India",[33][35] and, as one scholar put it, "the harbinger of 'Hindutva terrorism' in India".[34] In a 2012 review of Gatade's work, author Rohini Hensman concurred that if terrorism is defined as violence in pursuit of a political goal, then "the assassination of Gandhi could indeed be seen as a terrorist act".[33]
Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy (This is Nathuram Godse Speaking) is a two-act play written in theMarathi language by Pradeep Dalvi.[36] It is based on the bookMay It Please Your Honour written by Nathuram's brother Gopal Godse. According to Karline McLain, the play "enacts Godse's defense plea" and thus "explores the assassination ofGandhi and the trial of Godse from Godse's point of view.[37]
In 2014, following theBharatiya Janata Party's rise to power, the Hindu Mahasabha began attempts to rehabilitate Godse and portray him as a patriot. It requested Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to install a bust of Godse. It created a documentary filmDesh Bhakt Nathuram Godse (Patriot Nathuram Godse) for release on the death anniversary of Gandhi on 30 January 2015.[38]There were attempts to build a temple for Godse and to celebrate 30 January as aShaurya Diwas ("Bravery Day").[39] A civil suit was filed in Pune Court asking for a ban on the documentary film.[40]
In May 2019, in the lead up to the final phase ofIndian elections, BJP's candidate fromBhopal,Pragya Thakur, called Godse a "patriot".[41] Facing intense backlash, she apologised later.[42]
AsHindutva politics became more widespread in India, there have been attempts to commemorate Godse. The city ofMeerut was proposed to be renamed after him but the possibility of such a name change was ruled out by the District Magistrate.[43][44]
Because of Gandhi's sensitivity to India's Muslim minority, he was blamed for the partition. In January 1948, in New Delhi, he was assassinated by Nathuram Vinayak Godse, a militant Hindu nationalist.
Nathuram Godse (1910–1949), though rarely discussed in histories of modern India ranks among its significant figure, if only as the assassin of Gandhi and popularizer of the teachings of his own mentor, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the inventor of 'Hindutva.' As early as 1927, Savarkar had ridiculed the philosopy of non-violence ...
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