Why Recreating Gandhi Murder?

Ram Puniyani
February 8, 2019

This 30th January 2019, when the whole country was observing the 71st martyrdom day of ‘Father of the Nation’, Mahatma Gandhi, the members of Hindu Mahasabha recreated the murder of Gandhi in Aligarh. Led by Hindu Mahasabha Secretary Pooja Shakun Pandey, a group of saffron wearing workers assembled with preparation for video shooting. Pandey fired three shots on the effigy of Gandhi and blood started dripping from the balloon behind the effigy. The Assembled Hindu Mahasabha workers shouted slogans condemning Gandhi and hailing Godse, the murderer of Gandhi. They shouted Mahatma Nathuram Godse Amar Rahein (Long live Nathuram Godse). They declared that from this year on they will recreate Gandhi murder every year the way Ravan’s effigy is burned on Dusshera day.  The video went viral. Pandey’s facebook post also showed an earlier picture of hers’ with BJP leaders, ex MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Central BJP minister Uma Bharati. Police has filed criminal cases against some of those participating in the event.

The hailing of Nathurm Godse, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and attacking Gandhi has been the plank of Hindu Nationalists (Hindu Mahasabha and RSS). Few years ago in a public meeting Congress President Rahul Gandhi stated that RSS people killed Gandhi, a case was been filed against him, and RSS wants him to apologize as Rahul Gandhi holds on to his statement. A few years ago one leader of BJP, Gopal Krishnan, had said that Godse picked up the wrong target; he should have killed Nehru instead of Gandhi as Nehru was responsible for partition. Sakhshi Maharaj, the BJP MP stated that Godse was a patriot. Farmer RSS Sarsanghchalak Rajendra Singh had said that Godse had right intentions but his method was wrong.

None of these Hindu nationalists ever targeted Muslim League or Jinnah, who among others, had played a role in the partition of the country. During last few years those supporting Godse and Savarkar are becoming more assertive. There are few differences in the two branches of Hindu Nationalists, Hindu Mahasabha and RSS, still all those who oppose Indian nationalism and values of Indian Constitution have been covert or overt supporters of the ideology due to which Gandhi was murdered.

The plea given for Gandhi murder was that it’s due to Gandhi that Muslims became bolder, demanded Pakistan, and India had to give 55 corers to Pakistan. As a matter of fact the attempts to murder him had been on from 1934. The 30th January 1948 attack was the sixth in the sequence. Godse himself was involved in two earlier attacks. Nehru summed up the national mood when mourning the death of his mentor saying ‘light has gone and there is darkness around’. Teesta Setalvad in her compilation, ‘Beyond Doubt’ comprehensively deals with the issue. She quotes from Home ministry circulars, eminent books dealing with the issue (Jagan Phadnis –‘Mahtyamechi Akher’, Y.D. Phadke ‘Nathuramayan’ and Chunuibhai Vaidya’s book: ‘Spitting on the Sun’) and argues that the issue of partition and 55 Crores to the Pakistan were mere pretexts, as much before these issues came to surface, attempts on Gandhi’s life were made in 1934, 1940 and 1944. The real reason for attacks on the Mahatma was that he was a great Hindu and he was the greatest opponent of Hindu nationalism. Hindu nationalists saw him as the big obstacle to their agenda of Hindu nation. Surely Hindu nationalists’ major act of violence was to kill the greatest Hindu of our time, Gandhi.

Godse who succeeded in killing Gandhi was a trained Paracharak of RSS, who joined the Pune branch of Hindu Mahasabah in 1938 and edited a newspaper called Agrani subtitled Hindu Rashtra. In his journal a cartoon was carried with Gandhi as Ravan with ten heads (two heads being Patel and Netaji Bose) slayer being Savarkar. After the murder of Gandhi, RSS was banned by the then Home minster Sardar Patel, who in his letter to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee of Hindu Mahsabha stated that it was due to the hate spread by Hindu Mahasabha and RSS; due to which Nation had to lose its father. The main accused of Gandhi murder Godse had many accomplices one of whom was Savarkar. He was let off due to lack of any corroborative evidence. Jeevanlal Kapoor Commission, which went into the whole issue pointed out, “All these facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group.”

Also as far as Godse’s membership of RSS is concerned we should note that at that time RSS did not have a written Constitution and membership register. One of the conditions for lifting the ban on RSS was that it will have written Constitution. In Court Godse denied that he was member of RSS. RSS people also denied that Godse was part of RSS. In contrast Nathuram’s brother Gopal, who was a co accused with him, wrote, “The appeasement policy followed by him (Gandhi) and imposed on all Congress governments’ encouraged the Muslim separatist tendencies that eventually created Pakistan. Technically and theoretically he (Nathuram) was a member (of RSS), but he stopped workings for it later. His statement in the court that he had left the RSS was to protect the RSS workers; who would be imprisoned following the murder. On the understanding that they (RSS workers) would benefit from his dissociating himself from the RSS, he gladly did it.”

In RSS, Savarkar is given the high place for nationalism. The whole Nationalism as asserted by RSS-Hindu Mahasabha is sectarian Hindu Nationalism, the parallel and opposite of Muslim Nationalism propounded by Muslim League. It was Savarkar who had apologized to British to get released from Andmans., and later propounded ‘two nation (Hindu and Muslim) theory’. This was to opposes the Indian nationalism, which was surging under the leadership of Gandhi led Congress. The present recreation of the dastardly act is a symbol of rise in assertion of RSS-BJP during last few years in particular.

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News Network
June 4,2020

New Delhi, Jun 4: India's Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, following which the defence ministry carried out a massive contact-tracing exercise, official sources said.

Kumar's condition is stable and he is currently under home-quarantine, they said.

At least 35 officials working at the ministry's headquarters in South Block in the Raisina Hills have been sent on home quarantine after reports of Kumar testing positive for the infection emerged on Wednesday morning.

There was no official comment on Kumar's health condition. The defence ministry spokesperson refused to comment on the issue.

It is learnt that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh did not attend office as part of a precautionary measure.

The offices of the defence minister, the defence secretary, the Army Chief and the Navy Chief are on the first floor of the South Block.

The sources said all laid down protocols on contact-tracing and quarantining of people are being scrupulously followed.

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Ram Puniyani
January 14,2020

In the beginning of January 2020 two very disturbing events were reported from Pakistan. One was the attack on Nankana Sahib, the holy shrine where Sant Guru Nanak was born. While one report said that the place has been desecrated, the other stated that it was a fight between two Muslim groups. Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan condemned the incident and the main accused Imran Chisti was arrested. The matter related to abduction and conversion of a Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur, daughter of Pathi (One who reads Holy Guru Granth Sahib in Gurudwara) of the Gurudwara. In another incident one Sikh youth Ravinder Singh, who was out on shopping for his marriage, was shot dead in Peshawar.

While these condemnable attacks took place on the Sikh minority in Pakistan, BJP was quick enough to jump to state that it is events like this which justify the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Incidentally CAA is the Act which is discriminatory and relates to citizenship with Religion, which is not as per the norms of Indian constitution. There are constant debates and propaganda that population of Hindus has come down drastically in Pakistan and Bangla Desh. Amit Shah, the Home minister stated that in Pakistan the population of Hindus has come down from 23% at the time of partition to 3.7% at present. And in Bangla Desh it has come down from 22% to present 8%.

While not denying the fact that the religious minorities are getting a rough deal in both these countries, the figures which are presented are totally off the mark. These figures don’t take into consideration the painful migrations, which took place at the time of partition and formation of Bangla Desh later. Pakistan census figures tell a different tale. Their first census was held in 1951. As per this census the overall percentage of Non Muslim in Pakistan (East and West together) was 14.2%, of this in West Pakistan (Now Pakistan) it was 3.44 and in Eat Pakistan it was 23.2. In the census held in Pakistan 1998 it became 3.72%. As far as Bangla Desh is concerned the share of Non Muslims has gone down from 23.2 (1951) to 9.6% in 2011.

The largest minority of Pakistan is Ahmadis, (https://minorityrights.org/country/pakistan/) who are close to 4 Million and are not recognised as Muslims in Pakistan. In Bangla Desh the major migrations of Hindus from Bangla Desh took place in the backdrop of Pakistan army’s atrocities in the then East Pakistan.

As far as UN data on refugees in India it went up by 17% between 2016-2019 and largest numbers were from Tibet and Sri Lanka.  (https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/publication…)

The state of minorities is in a way the index of strength of democracy. Most South Asian Countries have not been able to sustain democratic values properly. In Pakistan, the Republic began with Jinnah’s classic speech where secularism was to be central credo of Pakistan. This 11th August speech was in a way what the state policy should be, as per which people of all faiths are free to practice their religion. Soon enough the logic of ‘Two Nation theory” and formation of Pakistan, a separate state for Muslim took over. Army stepped in and dictatorship was to reign there intermittently. Democratic elements were suppressed and the worst came when Zia Ul Haq Islamized the state in collusion with Maulanas. The army was already a strong presence in Pakistan. The popular formulation for Pakistan was that it is ruled by three A’s, Army, America and Allah (Mullah).

Bangla Desh had a different trajectory. Its very formation was a nail in the coffin of ‘two nation theory’; that religion can be the basis of a state. Bangla Desh did begin as a secular republic but communal forces and secular forces kept struggling for their dominance and in 1988 it also became Islamic republic. At another level Myanmar, in the grip of military dictatorship, with democratic elements trying to retain their presence is also seeing a hard battle. Democracy or not, the army and Sanghas (Buddhist Sang has) are strong, in Myanmar as well. The most visible result is persecution of Rohingya Muslims.

Similar phenomenon is dominating in Sri Lanka also where Budhhist Sanghas and army have strong say in the political affairs, irrespective of which Government is ruling. Muslim and Christian minorities are a big victim there, while Tamils (Hindus, Christians etc.) suffered the biggest damage as ethnic and religious minorities. India had the best prospect of democracy, pluralism and secularism flourishing here. The secular constitution, the outcome of India’s freedom struggle, the leadership of Gandhi and Nehru did ensure the rooting of democracy and secularism in a strong way.

India so far had best democratic credentials amongst all the south Asian countries. Despite that though the population of minorities rose mainly due to poverty and illiteracy, their overall marginalisation was order of the day, it went on worsening with the rise of communal forces, with communal forces resorting to identity issues, and indulging in propaganda against minorities.

While other South Asian countries should had followed India to focus more on infrastructure and political culture of liberalism, today India is following the footsteps of Pakistan. The retrograde march of India is most visible in the issues which have dominated the political space during last few years. Issues like Ram Temple, Ghar Wapasi, Love Jihad, Beef-Cow are now finding their peak in CAA.

India’s reversal towards a polity with religion’s identity dominating the political scene was nicely presented by the late Pakistani poetess Fahmida Riaz in her poem, Tum bhi Hum Jaise Nikle (You also turned out to be like us). While trying to resist communal forces has been an arduous task, it is becoming more difficult by the day. This phenomenon has been variously called, Fundamentalism, Communalism or religious nationalism among others. Surely it has nothing to do with the religion as practiced by the great Saint and Sufi traditions of India; it resorts mainly to political mobilization by using religion as a tool.

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Ashi
 - 
Tuesday, 14 Jan 2020

If Malaysia implement similar NRC/CAA, India and China are the loser.

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News Network
June 12,2020

An Indian national was killed and four others injured in alleged firing by Nepal police personnel along the India-Nepal border in Bihar's Sitamarhi district today.

Sources said the firing took place after a clash between the Indians and personnel of Nepal police at the Lalbandi-Janki Nagar border in Pipra Parsain panchayat under Sonebarsha police station of the district.

Jitendra Kumar, the additional director general of police (headquarters), confirmed the death and injuries. The place of firing falls under Nepal jurisdiction.

Locals said Vikesh Kumar Rai, 25, died on the spot and Umesh Ram and Uday Thakur received bullet injuries when they were working in an agricultural field. Another person, Lagan Rai, is said to have been detained by the Nepali police.

Injured persons were rushed to Sitamarhi Sadar Hospital for better treatment.

Vikesh Kumar Rai’s father, Nageshwar Rai, said that his agriculture land falls under Narayanpur in Nepal where his son was working.

On May 17, Nepal police had fired blank rounds to disperse dozens of Indians trying to cross the border. It was not clear if they were also farmers.

The district magistrate and the superintendent of police of Sitamarhi have rushed to the spot.

Nepal shares a 1,850-kilometre (1,150-mile) open border with India and people travel across it for work and to visit family. It had closed its international borders on March 22 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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