On
this date, 30 January 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in India. I will post the
information of this case from Wikipedia.
Location
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New Delhi
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Date
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30 January 1948
Indian Standard Time (5:17 pm)
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Target
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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
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Weapon(s)
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Semi-automatic pistol
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Deaths
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1 (Gandhi)
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Injured (non-fatal)
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None
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Perpetrators
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Nathuram Godse
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Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi
(often called Mahatma Gandhi) was assassinated on 30 January 1948, shot
at point-blank range by Nathuram Godse.
Gandhi was outside on the steps of a building where a prayer meeting was going
to take place. He was surrounded by a part of his family and some followers
when three gunshots killed him. Prior to his death, there had been five
unsuccessful attempts to kill Gandhi, the first occurring in 1934.
Assassination
After
a previous failed attempt to assassinate Gandhi at the Birla House, Nathuram
Godse and Narayan Apte returned to Pune via Mumbai (Bombay). With the help of
Dattatraya Parchure and Gangadhar Dandavate, Nathuram Vinayak Godse and Narayan
Apte purchased a Beretta and reached Delhi on 29 January 1948, checking into
the retiring room No. 6 at Delhi Railway Station.
Conspirators
Day
of assassination
Godse
approached Gandhi on January 30, 1948 during the evening prayer at 5:17 pm.
When Godse bowed, one of the girls flanking and supporting Gandhi, Abha
Chattopadhyay, said to Godse, "Brother, Bapu is already late" and
tried to put him off, but he pushed her aside and shot Gandhi in the chest
three times at point-blank range with a Beretta M 1934 semi-automatic pistol
chambered in .380 ACP bearing the serial number 606824. Gandhi died almost
immediately. Godse himself shouted "police" and surrendered himself.
Gandhi's
last words
The
First Information Report (FIR) filed by Shri
Nand Lal Mehta shows that the last words of Gandhi were Hey... Raam
(which translates into "Oh God", Ram
being one of the Hindu deities). There has been no explanation of why he was
not rushed to the hospital and was instead taken to Birla House, where he later died.
...People were standing on both the sides and approximately three
feet of vacant space was left for the Mahatma to pass through. As per the
custom the Mahatma greeted the people with folded hands. He had barely covered
six or seven steps when a person whose name I learnt later as Narayan Vinayak
Godse, resident of Poona, stepped closer and fired three shots from a pistol at
the Mahatma from barely 2 / 3 feet distance which hit the Mahatma in his
stomach and chest and blood started flowing. Mahatma ji fell backwards,
uttering "Hey-Raam". Nand Lal Mehta
— in the First Information Report
recorded on 30 January 1948, at 9.45 pm
The
last words uttered by Mohandas Gandhi have been a matter of debate. Venkita
Kalyanam, former personal assistant to Gandhi, said that he was present at the
spot and that Gandhi said "Oh God." His secretary, Pyarelal, quoted
his last words as "Rama Rama". Gandhi had given a speech nine months
before the assassination saying "Even if I am killed, I will not give up
repeating the names of Rama and Rahim, which mean to me the same God."
According to Nathuram Godse Gandhi just said "uhhh."
 |
The Martyr's Column at the Gandhi Smriti, (Birla House),
the spot where Gandhi was assassinated.
|
 |
Funeral procession of Gandhi, passing the India Gate,
Delhi
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Trial
and justice
All
of those involved in the crime were arrested and tried in a trial that
attracted plenty of media attention. Those convicted were either executed or
served their complete sentences.
Arrests
Some
of the arrests were high-profile such as the arrest of Vinayak Damodar
Savarkar.
Trials
and convictions
Savarkar
was acquitted and set free due to lack of evidence. Nathuram Godse and Narayan
Apte were sentenced to death by hanging. Gopal Godse was sentenced to life
in prison.
Aftermath
Violent
incidents took place in Pune, the hometown of Nathuram Godse. Violent incidents
occurred in other parts of India as well.
The
Maharashtrian Brahmin community was specifically targeted after it was known
that the majority of the assassins were Chitpavan Brahmins.
Previous
attempts
First
attempt
On
25 June 1934, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was in Pune along with his wife,
Kasturba Gandhi, to deliver a speech at Corporation Auditorium. They were travelling
in a motorcade of two cars. The car in which the couple was travelling was
delayed and the first car reached the auditorium. Just when the first car
arrived at the auditorium, a bomb was thrown, which exploded near the car. This
caused grievous injury to the Chief Officer of the Pune Municipal Corporation,
two policemen and seven others. Nevertheless, no account or records of the
investigation nor arrests made can be found. Gandhi's secretary, Pyarelal
Nayyar, believed that the attempt failed due to lack of planning and
co-ordination.
Second
attempt
The
second attempt on the life of Mohandas Gandhi may not have been an attempt to
assassinate as much as a demonstration of anger by a young man who tried to bow
down to Gandhi and was rejected. In May 1944, Gandhi was sent from Aga Khan
Palace prison and soon after he contracted malaria. On the advice of doctors,
he took a vacation to Panchgani, a hill station near Pune. During his stay at
Panchgani, Gandhi was staying at Dilkush Bungalow. This group of 15–21 young
men came to Panchgani after realising that Gandhi was staying there. This young
crowd was led by Nathuram Godse.
However,
by evening, during the prayer meeting, Nathuram Godse rushed towards Gandhi
with a dagger shouting anti-Gandhi slogans. He was unable to reach Gandhi as he
was overpowered by Mani Shankar Purohit (proprietor of Surti Lodge, Pune) and
D. Bhilare Guruji of Satara (who later became a Congress legislator from
Mahabaleshwar). The documentary evidence of this attack can be found in the
depositions made by Mani Shankar Purohit and D. Bhilare Guruji before the Kapur
Commission set up to investigate the assassination of Gandhi. However, the
Kapur Commission rejected this theory as many of the close associates of Gandhi
were not present during that time.
Third
attempt
The
third attempt was also a demonstration. However, people who testified before
the Kapur Commission referred it as an attempt at violence. Mohandas Gandhi
began his talks with Mohammad Ali Jinnah on 9 September 1944 which lasted for
14 days. While leaving for Mumbai from Sevagram Ashram, a group of Hindu
activists stopped him. They did not want him to go to Mumbai to hold talks with
Jinnah, however, these protesters were stopped by volunteers of the ashram. The
leader of this group, Nathuram Godse, was again found in possession of a
dagger. The policeman who found the dagger then looked up to him and joked,
"Why do you want to kill Gandhi? Let's leave it to the leaders
themselves... perhaps (Veer) Savarkar will finish off the job!" At which
Godse retorted, "Gandhi does not require such an honor. Even the jamadar
(sweeper) is enough for that." This incident has also been portrayed in
the film Gandhi by Sir Richard Attenborough. However, it is not
portrayed as an attempt to murder but as a peaceful demonstration in which the
demonstrators were waving black flags.
Fourth
attempt
On
20 January 1948, Madanlal Pahwa,
Shankar Kistaiya, Digambar Badge, Vishnu Karkare,
Gopal Godse, Nathuram Godse, and Narayan Apte came to Birla Bhavan (aka
Birla House) in Delhi to carry out another attack on Mahatma Gandhi and Huseyn Shaheed
Suhrawardy. Except for Madanlal Pahwa and Vishnu Karkare, everyone
else reached the venue through the rear entrance in a cab. Madanlal Pahwa tried
to bribe Choturam, the driver at Birla Bhavan, to let him go behind the podium
to take pictures of Gandhi. However, Choturam became suspicious and asked
Madanlal Pahwa why he needed photographs from behind, and inquired about the
absence of a camera. Madanlal Pahwa instead left, making Choturam think he was
going back to the taxi; however, he placed a cotton ball enclosing a bomb on
the wall behind the podium and ignited it. The bomb went off without creating
any panic. The team had left after abandoning Madanlal Pahwa.
On
interrogation, Madanlal Pahwa admitted that he was part of a seven member gang
who wanted to kill Gandhi. The plan was that Madanlal Pahwa would explode a
bomb as close to the podium as possible while Digambar Bagde or Shankar
Kishtaiyya would shoot Gandhi in the head during the ensuing panic and
stampede, using the chaotic situation to cover their escape. (Vishnu Karkare
was to compound the chaos by hurling hand grenades.) Faced with Choturam's
suspicious attitude, Digambar Badge decided at the last minute not to act, and
instructed Shankar Kishtaiyya (his servant) to also stand down.
Later,
Madanlal Phawa led the police to the Marina Hotel where Nathuram Godse and
Narayan Apte had been staying and also to Sharief Hotel where all other gang
members had been staying. Everyone had left by that time and the police were
only able to recover some letters and clothes which had the initials
"NVG" on it. By this time they were able to ascertain that the
members of that team were from Maharashtra; however they were not able to
establish the identity and the involvement of Nathuram Godse.
During
the Gandhi murder trial, Madanlal Pahwa was identified by Mrs. Sulochana Devi,
who had come to Birla Bhavan in search of her three-year old son (who used to
play in the servant quarters). She was the fifteenth witness in the trial, and
Surjeet Singh, the driver, was the fourteenth witness.
 |
Gandhi and Jinnah in Bombay, September 1944.
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Legacy
Kapur
Commission
On
12 November 1964, a religious programme was organised in Pune, to celebrate the
release of the Gopal Godse, Madanlal Pahwa, Vishnu Karkare from jail after the
expiry of their sentences. Dr. G. V. Ketkar, grandson of Bal Gangadhar Tilak,
former editor of Kesari and then editor of Tarun Bharat, who presided over the
function, revealed six months before the actual event, that Nathuram Godse
disclosed his ideas to kill Gandhi and was opposed by Ketkar. Ketkar said that
he passed the information to Balukaka Kanitkar who conveyed it to the then
Chief Minister of Bombay State, B. G. Kher. The Indian Express in its issue of
14 November 1964, commented adversely on Ketkar's conduct that Ketkar's
fore-knowledge of the assassination of Gandhi added to the mystery of the
circumstances preceding to the assassination. Ketkar was arrested. A public
furore ensued both outside and inside the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and
both houses of the Indian parliament. There was a suggestion that there had
been a deliberate dereliction of duty on the part of people in high authority,
who failed to act responsibly even though they had information that could have
prevented Gandhi's shooting. Under pressure of 29 members of parliament and
public opinion the then Union home minister Gulzarilal Nanda, appointed Gopal
Swarup Pathaka, M. P. and a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India, in
charge of inquiry of conspiracy to murder Gandhi. Since both Kanitkar and Kher
were deceased, the central government intended on conducting a thorough inquiry
with the help of old records in consultation with the government of
Maharashtra, Pathak was given three months to conduct his inquiry. But as
Pathak was appointed a central minister and then governor of Mysore state, the
commission of inquiry was reconstituted and Jevanlal Kapur a retired judge of
the Supreme Court of India was appointed to conduct the inquiry.
Reappraisal
of Savarkar's role
Kapur
commission also examined Savarkar's role in the assassination. Godse had
claimed full responsibility for planning and carrying out the attack, in
absence of an independent corroboration of the prosecution witness Digambar
Badge's evidence implicating Savarkar directly, the court exonerated him citing
insufficient evidence. According to Badge, on 17 January 1948, Nathuram Godse
went to have a last darshan of Savarkar in Bombay before the
assassination. While Badge and Shankar waited outside, Nathuram and Apte went
in. On coming out Apte told Badge that Savarkar blessed them "Yashasvi
houn ya" ("यशस्वी होऊन या" return victorious). Apte also
said that Savarkar predicted that Gandhiji's 100 years were over and there was
no doubt that the task would be successfully finished. However Badge’s
testimony was not accepted as it lacked independent corroboration. This was
later corroborated by the testimony of two of Savarkar's close aides – Appa
Ramachandra Kasar, his bodyguard, and Gajanan Vishnu Damle, his secretary, who
had not testified in the original trial but later testified before the Justice
Kapur commission set up in 1965. Kasar told the Kapur Commission that they
visited him on or about 23 or 24 January, which was when they returned from
Delhi after the bomb incident. Damle deposed that Godse and Apte saw Savarkar
in the middle of January and sat with him (Savarkar) in his garden. Justice
Kapur concluded: "All these facts taken together were destructive of any
theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group."
Is it true that on the day of the bomb blast during the search of the
room at Marina Hotel clothes were found bearing the initials N.V.G. – Nathuram
Vinayak Godse -? On the basis of which the police went to Bombay and requested
the Bombay police to look for this person, the Bombay police assured the Delhi
police to do the needful and asked them to return, but did nothing. Is it true
that the Bombay Police failed in tracing Nathuram Vinayak Godse?
—
Balkrishna Sharma, during the debate on murder of Mahatma Gandhi in the
Constituent Assembly of India.
To comment on matters under investigation is both difficult and
unwarranted. I can only say that after the arrest and interrogation of the
bomber, an officer of Delhi police went to Bombay and briefed the C.I.D. in
Bombay. After the briefing, it was decided that some people should be arrested
but to arrest them immediately would lead to the other conspirators going
underground. So the Delhi police and Bombay C.I.D. decided to defer the arrests
for some time to enable them to uncover the conspiracy and all who were
involved in it. It is true that the police were on a look out for them but all
of them were not in Bombay
—
Sardar
Patel, during the debate on murder of Mahatma Gandhi in the Constituent
Assembly of India.
If I am to die by the bullet of a mad man, I must do so smiling.
There must be no anger within me. God must be in my heart and on my lips.
—
Mohandas K. Gandhi, 28 January 1948,
two days prior to his assassination.
In
media
Several
books, plays and movies have been produced about the event.
- May It
Please Your Honor
is a book by Nathuram Godse.
- Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy is a controversial Marathi play
about the event. It was briefly banned by the Shiv Sena+BJP ruled State of
Maharashtra in 1999 upon directions from the BJP led Central Government.
- Gandhi vs.
Gandhi is
Marathi play that has been translated in several languages. Its primary
plot is the relationship between Gandhi and his estranged son but it also
deals briefly with the assassination.
- Why I
Killed Gandhi is
a publication that contains the original transcript of Nathuram Godse's
defence in the trial.
- Nine Hours to Rama is a 1963 British movie based on
Stanley Wolpert's novel of the same name,
which is a fictional account of the final nine hours leading up to
Gandhi's assassination.
- Gandhi and
the Unspeakable: His Final Experiment with Truth by James Douglass is a
non-fiction book that seeks to understand not only the facts of the murder
but its importance in the larger struggle between non-violence and
violence.
- Hey Ram (2000) - a Tamil-Hindi
by Kamal
Haasan about a fictitious plot to kill Gandhi by a man devastated by partition riots and his change of heart
even as the real-life plot succeeds.
