Who is the most misunderstood person in the history ? Mr Nathuram Godse Name ring a bell? Yes he the one who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi. And thats his biography for most of the people. No doubt assassinating Gandhi is the most significant event in which he was involved but there is more to this story. Like most of the Indian students, I only read his one-line-biography, remembered the date of his crime and passed the exam. I got interested in this topic when Maharastra Govt was working hard to ban the Marathi play Mi Nathuram Godse Boltoy (Translation: This Is Nathuram Godse Speaking). Here following few facts which are hidden in the long lost history. He was no psychopath or mentally unstable person and he didnt kill Mahatma Gandhi because of personal vengeance. He was member of RSS in his lifetime. However, investigators could find no evidence that the RSS bureaucracy had formally sponsored or even knew of Godses plot. You might label him as Hindu fanatic but he was follower of Mahatma Gandhi prior to standing up for his own views. Nathuram decided to kill Mahatma Gandhi when he announced indefinite fast to pressurize Indian Government to pay Rs 55 crores/- to Pakistani Government when two countries were at war. He believed that Gandhi is as much responsible for partition as Jinnah was. (I personally disagree on this but lets enlist the facts about Nathuram here.) He pushed one of the girls supporting Mahatma Gandhi out of harms way just before shooting him. He surrendered after the shooting. He had his own newspaper with the name “Agrani”. Nathuram claimed that the last dying word of Mahatma Gandhi was ahh (faint sound of excursion) and not hey ram which was popularized by devoted followers. From transcript of the play -- There was only one common factor in Gandhis life and mine. We were both the cause of each others death. He wanted to live for his principles and I was prepared to die for my principles To be clear, I dont idealize Nathuram Godse. I am not arguing his case or justify his actions. Mahatma Gandhi was hero. We, Indian, owe a lot to him and other freedom fighters. But to make him hero, we dont need to make his killer a villain.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 16:55:15 +0000