Fifty-two years ago, on Jan. 30, 1948, Mohandas Gandhi was shot dead byNathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist. Godse believed that the Mahatma, or greatsoul, was responsible for the 1947 partition of India and the creation ofPakistan. Godse and his friend Narayan Apte were hanged. His brother Gopaland two others were sentenced to life imprisonment for their part in theconspiracy. Gopal Godse remained in jail for 18 years and now, at 80, liveswith his wife in a small apartment in Pune. He is still proud of his role inthe murder. Although Godse is largely ignored in India and rarely talks to Ganguly
TIME: What happened in January 1948?
Godse: On Jan. 20, Madanlal Pahwa exploded a bomb at Gandhi's prayer meeting in Delhi. It was 50 m away from Gandhi. [The other conspirators] all ran away from the place. Madanlal was caught there. Then there was a tension in our minds that we had to finish the task before the police caught us. Then Nathuram [Gopal's brother] took it on himself to do the thing. We only wanted destiny to help us -- meaning we should not be caught on the spot before he acted.
TIME: Why did you want to kill Gandhi?
Godse: Gandhi was a hypocrite. Even after the massacre of the Hindus by the Muslims, he was happy. The more the massacres of the Hindus, the taller his flag of secularism.
TIME: Did you ever see Gandhi?
Godse: Yes.
TIME: Did you attend his meetings?
Godse: Yes.
TIME: Can you explain how he created his mass following?
Godse: The credit goes to him for maneuvering the media. He captured thepress. That was essential. How Gandhi walked, when he smiled, how he waved-- all these minor details that the people did not require were imposed upon them to create an atmosphere around Gandhi. And the more ignorant the masses, the more popular was Gandhi. So they always tried to keep the masses ignorant.
TIME: But surely it takes more than good publicity to create a Gandhi?
Godse: There is another thing. Generally in the Indian masses, people are attracted toward saintism. Gandhi was shrewd to use his saintdom for politics. After his death the government used him. The government knew that he was an enemy of Hindus, but they wanted to show that he was a staunch Hindu. So the first act they did was to put "Hey Ram" into Gandhi's dead mouth.
TIME: You mean that he did not say "Hey Ram" as he died?
Godse: No, he did not say it. You see, it was an automatic pistol. It had a magazine for nine bullets but there were actually seven at that time. And once you pull the trigger, within a second, all the seven bullets had passed. When these bullets pass through crucial points like the heart,consciousness is finished. You have no strength.When Nathuram saw Gandhi was coming, he took out the pistol and folded hishands with the pistol inside it. There was one girl very close to Gandhi. He feared that he would hurt the girl. So he went forward and with his left hand pushed her aside and shot. It happened within one second. You see,there was a film and some Kingsley fellow had acted as Gandhi. Someone asked me whether Gandhi said, "Hey Ram." I said Kingsley did say it. But Gandhi did not. Because that was not a drama.
TIME: Many people think Gandhi deserved to be nominated TIME's Person of theCentury. [He was one of two runners-up, after Albert Einstein.]
Godse: I name him the most cruel person for Hindus in India. The most cruelperson! That is how I term him.
TIME: Is that why Gandhi had to die?
Godse: Yes. For months he was advising Hindus that they must never be angry with the Muslims. What sort of ahimsa (non-violence) is this? His principleof peace was bogus. In any free country, a person like him would be shotdead officially because he was encouraging the Muslims to kill Hindus.
TIME: But his philosophy was of turning the other cheek. He felt one person had to stop the cycle of violence...
Godse: The world does not work that way.
TIME: Is there anything that you admire about Gandhi?
Godse: Firstly, the mass awakening that Gandhi did. In our school daysGandhi was our idol. Secondly, he removed the fear of prison. He said it is different to go into prison for a theft and different to go in for satyagraha (civil disobedience). As youngsters, we had our enthusiasm, but we needed some channel. We took Gandhi to be our channel. We don't repent for that.
TIME: Did you not admire his principles of non-violence?
Godse: Non-violence is not a principle at all. He did not follow it. In politics you cannot follow non-violence. You cannot follow honesty. Every moment, you have to give a lie. Every moment you have to take a bullet in hand and kill someone. Why was he proved to be a hypocrite? Because he was in politics with his so-called principles. Is his non-violence followed anywhere? Not in the least. Nowhere.
TIME: What was the most difficult thing about killing Gandhi?
Godse: The greatest hurdle before us was not that of giving up our lives or going to the gallows. It was that we would be condemned both by the government and by the public. Because the public had been kept in the dark about what harm Gandhi had done to the nation. How he had fooled them!
TIME: Did the people condemn you?
Godse: Yes. People in general did. Because they had been kept ignorant.
Now that interview would surely be annoying to the people who take Gandhi to be a Mahathma.. I dont say everything what Godse said in that interview was correct but he has also got a point there.. No one can be good in politics..That is true..Gandhi is no exception..Face the truth.
This makes one thing clear.The history that we have been taught in the school is all manipulated and mostly untrue. Take for instance the Taj Mahal, my history teacher taught me that it was built by Shahjahan but there is a controversy that it was an Hindu temple that was abducted by Shahjahan.[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tejo_Mahalaya ] I was never told about this in the class.. So, one of the seven wonders of the world itself has a confused history. Another good example is Veerapandiya Kattabomman...He is being celebrated as a freedom fighter but another school of thought says that Kattabomman for a very arrongant king who was a rapist and he was made a great man only because he was killed by the British for refusing to pay the taxes.
But take the European countries..They all have a very strong history and there are no such controversies.. If Alexander is gay he stays gay in the records.. Its not manipulated.. But lets not get into the Constantine era... They could be manipulated... Manipulation exists in European history but the scale is very small when compared to ours.Gandhi is also one such manipulated concept.
TIME: What happened in January 1948?
Godse: On Jan. 20, Madanlal Pahwa exploded a bomb at Gandhi's prayer meeting in Delhi. It was 50 m away from Gandhi. [The other conspirators] all ran away from the place. Madanlal was caught there. Then there was a tension in our minds that we had to finish the task before the police caught us. Then Nathuram [Gopal's brother] took it on himself to do the thing. We only wanted destiny to help us -- meaning we should not be caught on the spot before he acted.
TIME: Why did you want to kill Gandhi?
Godse: Gandhi was a hypocrite. Even after the massacre of the Hindus by the Muslims, he was happy. The more the massacres of the Hindus, the taller his flag of secularism.
TIME: Did you ever see Gandhi?
Godse: Yes.
TIME: Did you attend his meetings?
Godse: Yes.
TIME: Can you explain how he created his mass following?
Godse: The credit goes to him for maneuvering the media. He captured thepress. That was essential. How Gandhi walked, when he smiled, how he waved-- all these minor details that the people did not require were imposed upon them to create an atmosphere around Gandhi. And the more ignorant the masses, the more popular was Gandhi. So they always tried to keep the masses ignorant.
TIME: But surely it takes more than good publicity to create a Gandhi?
Godse: There is another thing. Generally in the Indian masses, people are attracted toward saintism. Gandhi was shrewd to use his saintdom for politics. After his death the government used him. The government knew that he was an enemy of Hindus, but they wanted to show that he was a staunch Hindu. So the first act they did was to put "Hey Ram" into Gandhi's dead mouth.
TIME: You mean that he did not say "Hey Ram" as he died?
Godse: No, he did not say it. You see, it was an automatic pistol. It had a magazine for nine bullets but there were actually seven at that time. And once you pull the trigger, within a second, all the seven bullets had passed. When these bullets pass through crucial points like the heart,consciousness is finished. You have no strength.When Nathuram saw Gandhi was coming, he took out the pistol and folded hishands with the pistol inside it. There was one girl very close to Gandhi. He feared that he would hurt the girl. So he went forward and with his left hand pushed her aside and shot. It happened within one second. You see,there was a film and some Kingsley fellow had acted as Gandhi. Someone asked me whether Gandhi said, "Hey Ram." I said Kingsley did say it. But Gandhi did not. Because that was not a drama.
TIME: Many people think Gandhi deserved to be nominated TIME's Person of theCentury. [He was one of two runners-up, after Albert Einstein.]
Godse: I name him the most cruel person for Hindus in India. The most cruelperson! That is how I term him.
TIME: Is that why Gandhi had to die?
Godse: Yes. For months he was advising Hindus that they must never be angry with the Muslims. What sort of ahimsa (non-violence) is this? His principleof peace was bogus. In any free country, a person like him would be shotdead officially because he was encouraging the Muslims to kill Hindus.
TIME: But his philosophy was of turning the other cheek. He felt one person had to stop the cycle of violence...
Godse: The world does not work that way.
TIME: Is there anything that you admire about Gandhi?
Godse: Firstly, the mass awakening that Gandhi did. In our school daysGandhi was our idol. Secondly, he removed the fear of prison. He said it is different to go into prison for a theft and different to go in for satyagraha (civil disobedience). As youngsters, we had our enthusiasm, but we needed some channel. We took Gandhi to be our channel. We don't repent for that.
TIME: Did you not admire his principles of non-violence?
Godse: Non-violence is not a principle at all. He did not follow it. In politics you cannot follow non-violence. You cannot follow honesty. Every moment, you have to give a lie. Every moment you have to take a bullet in hand and kill someone. Why was he proved to be a hypocrite? Because he was in politics with his so-called principles. Is his non-violence followed anywhere? Not in the least. Nowhere.
TIME: What was the most difficult thing about killing Gandhi?
Godse: The greatest hurdle before us was not that of giving up our lives or going to the gallows. It was that we would be condemned both by the government and by the public. Because the public had been kept in the dark about what harm Gandhi had done to the nation. How he had fooled them!
TIME: Did the people condemn you?
Godse: Yes. People in general did. Because they had been kept ignorant.
Now that interview would surely be annoying to the people who take Gandhi to be a Mahathma.. I dont say everything what Godse said in that interview was correct but he has also got a point there.. No one can be good in politics..That is true..Gandhi is no exception..Face the truth.
This makes one thing clear.The history that we have been taught in the school is all manipulated and mostly untrue. Take for instance the Taj Mahal, my history teacher taught me that it was built by Shahjahan but there is a controversy that it was an Hindu temple that was abducted by Shahjahan.[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tejo_Mahalaya ] I was never told about this in the class.. So, one of the seven wonders of the world itself has a confused history. Another good example is Veerapandiya Kattabomman...He is being celebrated as a freedom fighter but another school of thought says that Kattabomman for a very arrongant king who was a rapist and he was made a great man only because he was killed by the British for refusing to pay the taxes.
But take the European countries..They all have a very strong history and there are no such controversies.. If Alexander is gay he stays gay in the records.. Its not manipulated.. But lets not get into the Constantine era... They could be manipulated... Manipulation exists in European history but the scale is very small when compared to ours.Gandhi is also one such manipulated concept.
No comments:
Post a Comment