Today is death anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.Although sixty seven years have passed since his death still the Mahatma is being remembered as usual.But after the historic elections to the Lower House of Indian Parliament,one man who is being remembered earnestly is Nathuram Godse,the assassinator of Mahatma Gandhi.Situations have become so grim that today hardly any tributes have been paid to Mahatma without invoking Godse's name.Most of the people are busy pointing towards the attempt by Hindu right wings to honour Nathuram Godse.They are pouring hate towards Godse without having any serious love for Bapu.The thing is that they want to use the situation to beat black and blue over the intentions of the new government.And,remember what path the right wing organizations are treading to honour Nathuram Godse.They have decided to built a temple in his honour.Both of them are doing huge injustice to both Mahatma and Godse.
A man is the combination of both good and evil.No man born is perfect,so,says the legend of Lord Ram,one who was termed Maryda Purshottam (man of perfect conduct) for his flawlessness.Now,Mahatma had his share of flaws.They were never important as long as he was in the helm of Indian freedom movement.His control over the affairs of the nation had suffered a drastic setback by the time India won its Independence.This didn't at all mean that he didn't enjoyed the support of public which swayed according to the directions of his soul.He had simply been sidelined by the Congress party which no more needed his ethics and virtue to enjoy their newly found treasure of power.The country was divided despite his reservations and Muslim League and Congress found their respective goals.But there lies an important catch.A partition had taken place about which Gandhiji is believed to have said will take place only over my corpse.Mahatma put on all efforts to convince Congress to reject the idea of partition but failed to do so.But the story didn't end there.Soon after Pakistan secured its independence from Britishers and a division from India,it launched a scathing attack on the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir.That too when all the conditions of partition had not been fulfilled.One of the conditions required India to pay Rs.75 crores to Pakistan.The amount was to be paid in two instalments.The first instalment of Rs.20 crores had already been paid and the Indian government decided to withheld the payment of Rs.55 crore to put pressure on the Pakistan government.It was an open secret that the Pakistani establisment will use the money to buy arms and ammunition to sustain its Kashmiri adventure.However,Mahatma Gandhi who was a strict observer of his principles found the stand of Indian side unethical and was using his influence to force the Indian government to change its stand.He wanted the government to release the fund and he even proclaimed his desire to go to Pakistan with the money so that he can show the correct path to the Pakistan government too.This was in January 1948,the same month that Gandhi was assassinated.
Under such situations a man decided to eliminate Mahatma Gandhi.He has been described by some scholars as a mad Hindu.Mad you can argue,but Hindu was simply an attempt to give the murder a religious flavour.Nathuram Godse's statement over the assassination has been kept out of public by the Union government.However,the stories that have come out have pointed to political connections.This may be true considering Godse's association with right wing outfits.However dismissing him as a mad his rather silly.He did it with dead precision and clear consideration.His motive may not have been disclosed by the government but this does not barres us from speculating the reasons for the murder.There may have been religious inkling inside the conspiracy but no one can deny the immediate political fallout of the murder.It would have served a much better purpose had RSS had similar organizations worked hard to research the reasons for the shocking murder of the Father of the Nation rather than honour the murderer.
However,this does not at all mean that Nathuram Godse was a traitor or terrorist bent on harming the nation.Seeing the situation from the other perspective one arrives at the inevitability of Mahatma's death.Bapu felt that people of both the countries,India and Pakistan,were like his sons.He failed to see that Pakistan will soon turn into a Islamic nation (it was secular at the time of its Independence) were the people will have no respect for the life-long service and sacrifice he gave for the freedom of both the nations.Books in Pakistan describe him as a "Hindu" leader.It will be good if could show more sense and not dismiss Bapu as a "Muslim" nation.He was in the truest sense,a father-like figure for both Hindus and Muslims,and all other religions living in India.But one thing that we all must not forget is that if indeed Mahatma Gandhi had been able to secure the due amount for Pakistan he would never been remembered as fondly as he is remembered today.He would forever have been dismissed in this country as a "Muslim" leader.Just imagine,the man who changed the world scenario forever with his tools of peace and non-violence would have had a haughty legend of being a religious leader in the 2-nations whose independence was secured under his leadership.
A man is the combination of both good and evil.No man born is perfect,so,says the legend of Lord Ram,one who was termed Maryda Purshottam (man of perfect conduct) for his flawlessness.Now,Mahatma had his share of flaws.They were never important as long as he was in the helm of Indian freedom movement.His control over the affairs of the nation had suffered a drastic setback by the time India won its Independence.This didn't at all mean that he didn't enjoyed the support of public which swayed according to the directions of his soul.He had simply been sidelined by the Congress party which no more needed his ethics and virtue to enjoy their newly found treasure of power.The country was divided despite his reservations and Muslim League and Congress found their respective goals.But there lies an important catch.A partition had taken place about which Gandhiji is believed to have said will take place only over my corpse.Mahatma put on all efforts to convince Congress to reject the idea of partition but failed to do so.But the story didn't end there.Soon after Pakistan secured its independence from Britishers and a division from India,it launched a scathing attack on the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir.That too when all the conditions of partition had not been fulfilled.One of the conditions required India to pay Rs.75 crores to Pakistan.The amount was to be paid in two instalments.The first instalment of Rs.20 crores had already been paid and the Indian government decided to withheld the payment of Rs.55 crore to put pressure on the Pakistan government.It was an open secret that the Pakistani establisment will use the money to buy arms and ammunition to sustain its Kashmiri adventure.However,Mahatma Gandhi who was a strict observer of his principles found the stand of Indian side unethical and was using his influence to force the Indian government to change its stand.He wanted the government to release the fund and he even proclaimed his desire to go to Pakistan with the money so that he can show the correct path to the Pakistan government too.This was in January 1948,the same month that Gandhi was assassinated.
Under such situations a man decided to eliminate Mahatma Gandhi.He has been described by some scholars as a mad Hindu.Mad you can argue,but Hindu was simply an attempt to give the murder a religious flavour.Nathuram Godse's statement over the assassination has been kept out of public by the Union government.However,the stories that have come out have pointed to political connections.This may be true considering Godse's association with right wing outfits.However dismissing him as a mad his rather silly.He did it with dead precision and clear consideration.His motive may not have been disclosed by the government but this does not barres us from speculating the reasons for the murder.There may have been religious inkling inside the conspiracy but no one can deny the immediate political fallout of the murder.It would have served a much better purpose had RSS had similar organizations worked hard to research the reasons for the shocking murder of the Father of the Nation rather than honour the murderer.
However,this does not at all mean that Nathuram Godse was a traitor or terrorist bent on harming the nation.Seeing the situation from the other perspective one arrives at the inevitability of Mahatma's death.Bapu felt that people of both the countries,India and Pakistan,were like his sons.He failed to see that Pakistan will soon turn into a Islamic nation (it was secular at the time of its Independence) were the people will have no respect for the life-long service and sacrifice he gave for the freedom of both the nations.Books in Pakistan describe him as a "Hindu" leader.It will be good if could show more sense and not dismiss Bapu as a "Muslim" nation.He was in the truest sense,a father-like figure for both Hindus and Muslims,and all other religions living in India.But one thing that we all must not forget is that if indeed Mahatma Gandhi had been able to secure the due amount for Pakistan he would never been remembered as fondly as he is remembered today.He would forever have been dismissed in this country as a "Muslim" leader.Just imagine,the man who changed the world scenario forever with his tools of peace and non-violence would have had a haughty legend of being a religious leader in the 2-nations whose independence was secured under his leadership.
