Nathuram Godse

Nathuram Godse नथूराम गोडसे
Born	Baramati, Pune District, British India
Died	15 November 1949(1949-11-15) (aged 39) Ambala Prison, Haryana, Union of India

Nathuram Vinayak Godse (Marathi: नथूराम विनायक गोडसे) (19 May 1910 – 15 November 1949), from the city of Pune, India was the assassin of Mohandas Gandhi. Along with his brother Gopal Godse and six other co-conspirators, he executed a plot to assassinate Gandhi.

Early life

Nathuram Godse was born in Baramati, Pune District in a Chitpavan Brahmin family. His father, Vinayak Vamanrao Godse, was a post office employee and his mother was Lakshmii (née Godavari). At birth, he was named Ramachandra.

A commonly held theory suggests that Nathuram was given his name because of an unfortunate incident. Before he was born, his parents had three sons and a daughter, with all three boys dying in their infancy. Fearing a curse that targeted male children, young Ramachandra was brought up as a girl for the first few years of his life, including having his nose pierced and being made to wear a nose-ring ("Nath" in Marathi). It was then that he earned the nickname "Nathuram" (literally "Ram with a nose-ring"). After his younger brother was born, they switched to treating him as a boy.

Nathuram Godse attended the local school at Baramati through the fifth standard, after which he was sent to live with an aunt in Pune so that he could study at an English-language school. During his school days, he highly respected Gandhi.

In 1930, Nathuram's father was transferred to the town of Ratnagiri.

Political Career

Group photo of people accused in the murder of Mohandas Gandhi. Standing, L to R: Shankar Kistaiya, Gopal Godse, Madanlal Pahwa, Digambar Ramchandra Badge. Seated, L to R: Narayan Apte, Vinayak D. Savarkar, Nathuram Godse, Vishnu Karkare

Godse dropped out of high school and became an activist with the Hindu Mahasabha. There is no evidence available for the popularized claim that he was a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist. They were particularly opposed to the separatist politics of the All India Muslim League. Godse started a Marathi newspaper for Hindu Mahasabha called Agrani, which some years later was renamed. Hindu Rashtra.

The Hindu Mahasabha had initially backed Gandhi's campaigns of civil disobedience against the British government.

Godse later rejected Gandhi, as felt that Gandhi was appeasing Muslim interests. They blamed Gandhi for the Partition of India, which left hundreds of thousands of people dead in the wake of religious unrest.

Godse was against Gandhi's teaching of extreme non violence. He thought that this teaching would lead to Hindus losing the will to fight, needed for self defense, and becoming permanently enslaved. This has been said to be one of the major reasons behind his decision to kill Gandhi.

Assassination of Mohandas K. Gandhi

Godse approached Gandhi on January 30, 1948 during the evening prayer and bowed. A girl accompanying Gandhi said, "Brother, Bapu is already late" and tried to put him off but he pushed her aside and shot three times at point-blank range with a .38 Beretta semi-automatic pistol. After shooting, he did not try to run or threaten anyone else. He was pinned to the ground and subsequently arrested.

Trial and execution

Following the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi, he was put on trial beginning May 27, 1948. During the trial, he did not defend any charge and openly admitted that he killed Gandhi after a long disposition on his reasons for killing Gandhi. On November 8, 1949, Godse was sentenced to death. Among those calling for commutation of the death sentence for the defendants were Jawaharlal Nehru, as well as Gandhi's two sons, who felt that the two men on trial were pawns of RSS higher-ups, and in any case, executing their father's killers would dishonour his memory and legacy which included a staunch opposition to the death penalty. Godse was hanged at Ambala Jail on November 15, 1949, along with Narayan Apte, the other conspirator. Savarkar was also charged with conspiracy in the assassination of Gandhi, but was acquitted and subsequently released.

Aftermath

Millions of Indians mourned Gandhi's assassination.The Hindu Mahasabha was vilified and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the RSS, was temporarily banned. However, investigators could find no evidence that the RSS bureaucracy had formally sponsored or even knew of Godse's plot. The RSS ban was lifted by Prime Minister Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in 1949.

The RSS to this day denies any connection with Godse, and disputes the claim that he was a member.

After the assassination, many criticized the Indian government for not doing more to protect Gandhi who, earlier in the week, had been the target of a bomb plot by the same conspirators who later shot him. Of particular concern, was the fact that a Bombay detective had wired the names and descriptions of the assassins along with the fact that they were known to be in Delhi stalking Gandhi. On the other hand, Gandhi had repeatedly refused to cooperate with his own security and had resigned himself to a violent death which he accepted as an inevitable part of his destiny.

A film, Nine Hours to Rama, was made in 1963 and was based on the events leading up to the assassination, seen mainly from Godse's point of view. The film Hey Ram, made in 2000, also briefly touches upon events related to the assassination. The popular Marathi language play Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy (Marathi: मी नथुराम गोडसे बोलतोय)("I am Nathuram Godse, Speaking") was also made from Godse's point of view.

Books written by him

Nathuram Godse wrote two books in which he narrated his life story and why he assassinated Gandhi. The books were: 1. Why I assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, published by Surya Bharti, Delhi, India, 2003. ISBN 1-375-09979-6 2. May it Please your Honor!, published by Surya Bharti, India, 2003

References

1. Elst, Koenraad Gandhi and Godse - a Review and a Critique, Voice of India, 2001. ISBN 8185990719
2. Godse, Nathuram, Why I Assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, Surya Bharti, Delhi, India, 2003. OCLC 33991989
3. Godse, Nathuram May it Please Your Honor!, Surya Bharti, India, 2003.
4. Khosla, G.D. Murder of the Mahatma and Other Cases from a Judge's Notebook, Jaico Publishing House, 1968. ISBN 0-88253-051-8.
5. Malgonkar, Manohar (2008). The Men Who Killed Gandhi, New Delhi: Roli Books, ISBN 978-81-7436-617-7.
6. Phadke, Y.D. Nathuramayan

External links

• Godse's Final Speech to the Court
• Nathuram Godse and Gandhism with interviews and links
• Time Magazine's February 2000 interview of Gopal Godse
• Rediff's January 1998 interview of Gopal Godse
• Article discussing pro-Godse play
• Eyewitness to Gandhi assassination
• Eyewitness: Mahatma Gandhi Assassination on YouTube
• First Information Report (FIR) by police
• Why Godse killed Gandhi- by Rajeev Srinivasan
• Mi Nathuram Godse Boltoy