Each year
you enjoy a free holiday on 30th January, more popularly known as
Martyr's Day. People tell their children about the country’s greatest man;
his patriotism, his ideologies, his sacrifices and at last, his ruthless
assassination. Most of us would like to believe that such a great man must have
had a lot of enemies and one of them probably turned into an assassin.
But how many
of you know the assassin’s side of the story?
Was the
assassin even an enemy of Gandhi? Or was he a follower?
30 January 1948
12 p.m.
Birla Bhavan, Delhi
A
small girl is sitting next to Gandhi enjoying the bright sunlight outside the
bhavan. She’s the daughter of Sardar Vallabhai Patel. Little do these two know
that a few metres away there’s a man observing them stealthily. And he’s not
unarmed.
He can easily shoot
Gandhi from that distance, but there is a good chance that the girl might get
seriously injured. At a slow pace, he starts to move towards Gandhi, reaches
there, bows to him, pushes the girl away and shoots three times at a point
blank range.
‘Aah’ cries out the feeble man and succumbs to
his injuries. That was the end of the nation’s father.
The
assassin starts scanning the crowd, his arms in the air, he shouts “Police,
Police”. For 30 seconds nobody shows up. He spots a policeman, calls him and
asks to get arrested. Taking note of the sight, the policeman grabs the
assassin’s wrist and extends his hand towards the revolver.
Nathuram
Godse let go off the revolver.
History
has recorded Godse as one of the most sinister men for killing the greatest man
this country ever had. So you obviously know that he was tried in court, his
statements were recorded and finally death sentence was awarded.
What
you don’t know is that Godse’s statements were concealed for decades from
public and were released only a few years ago.
So, how does the editor of an eminent newspaper
(Agrani), turn into the greatest assassin this country has ever encountered?
Well as we all know, Gandhi was a man of patriotism.
Love for his country and its people were the basic ingredients of his nature.
All he wanted to see was a free and united country. He never had an intention
of separating the two communities (Hindus and Muslims).
So, why did he agree to the partition?
After partition, a lot of Hindu and Sikh refugees
travelled back to India from Pakistan. Unfortunately, it was not a very stable
scenario. Indeed, it was something so brutal which dissolves the very meaning
of humanity. Hindu/Sikh women were raped in front of their husbands, young
girls were abducted and they suffered even worse treatment. Refugee trains from
West Laden (Pakistan) reached Delhi packed with dead bodies. Anybody who tried
to flee away from the killers, was victimised to a level which can’t be
described.
A million refugees reached Delhi, traumatized and
devastated. Their families were shattered, loved ones were no more and life to
them was nothing less than sheer tragedy.
Gandhi’s irrational behaviour at such peak times was
the reason which led people like Godse to assassinate him.
According to Gandhi, the refugees should have been
sent back to Pakistan, and instead the Muslims in Delhi had to be protected. This ideology obviously did not serve as a healing
to the tragedies of the refugees.
Moving on, one of the most critical scenarios this
country has ever witnessed is its partition. After the partition, Pakistan
government demanded 55 crores worth cash reserves from India, which the former
believed were due to them. Even at this time, Gandhi supported
Pakistan’s demand and appealed to the Indian govt. by going on a fast until
death.
Also, as you all know that Jinnah had demanded the
state of Pakistan; he made this demand at knife-point and Gandhi agreed to this
in the heat of the moment. Gandhi agreed to this just to put an end to the
ongoing violence and Hindu-Muslim riots.
If you think a little deeper, this ideology of Gandhi
has a big loophole. He did not take care that in the coming future of the country, any
community in the country could demand for a different state by threatening the
govt. by using violence and mass level disturbance. He did not consider the
fact that there are so many communities in this country which could easily be provoked
against each other and then the only solution they’ll look up to is partition.
The India-Pakistan partition would just be an
inspiration to them and from that they could seek ways of dissecting the
Indian land into numerous religion based countries. Wouldn’t other communities
observe that how Gandhi supported Muslims in spite of the fact that they were
dividing this country? Wouldn’t the slightest of inter-religion conflicts
instigate these communities to look at partition as a viable solution?
Was this the idea of a free country?
Did Bhagat Singh die at the age of 23 for an
independent India or an independent Khalistan?
Did S.C. Bose fight for this country or for an
independent Bengal?
Nathuram Godse had nothing against Gandhi, all he
wanted was to target was the ideology of Gandhi.
He could have easily killed him secretly, but he wanted to tell the
world of how Gandhi was a saint, but was not a good politician and how he had
fallen astray from the idea of a united nation.
So, was the assassination of M.K. Gandhi justified?
All opinions would be highly appreciated.
Thanks!
If you would to like to read the actual statements of
Godse, here’s the link:
