Nathuram Godse assassinated Mahatma Gandhi and was hanged at Ambala jail on November 15,1949. Today is Nathuram Godse’s 70th death anniversary and to commemorate the occasion some significant members of the Hindutva organisation came together at its office and offered garlands upon his portrait. They also performed an ‘aarti’ while the police kept guard from outside the private building.
While Nathuram Godse was the one who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, Narayan Apte was also a co-conspirator in Gandhi’s assassination and was also hanged in the case. Members of the Hindutva organisation garlanded not just the portrait of Nathuram Godse but also Narayan Apte.
The Hindu Mahasabha has demanded that the statement that Nathuram Godse gave in his defence in the court during the assassination trial of Mahatma Gandhi be made part of the school syllabus in Madhya Pradesh schools.
We must note forget the fact that it was in 2017 that the Hindu Mahasabha installed the bust of Nathuram Godse amid extended religious fanfare. The Mahasabha has also called its main office a temple and thus considered it an appropriate place to perform religious offerings for its important leaders. In response to the installation of the bust of Nathuram Godse, the then BJP government had served a notice to the outfit and asked them to remove the bust despite immense tensions.
It was this year that the Hindu Mahasabha organised its event under the banner of the Yuvak Hindu Mahasabha and decided to hand over a memorandum to the district administration with a charter that contained four distinct demands, one of the most important demands that they make is to make Godse’s statement in the school syllabus. The Congress government at the Centre chose not to disclose Godse’s court statements for 50 years.
The second demand that the organisation has made is about declaring the death anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh’s sons as Bal Shahid Diwas in place of Bal Diwas(which is presently celebrated to commemorate Nehru’s birth anniversary on November 14). The third demand is the returning of the bust of Nathuram Godse that had been seized from the office.
The last demand that they made is the immediate arrest and sedition charge against those who vandalised the statute of Vivekanand at JNU recently.
The ruling Congress has condemned the event and the BJP and the VHP have distanced themselves from the event. The Congress alleged that such an event glorified violence and was condemnable. The Congress said that it will make sure that the government takes action against those who have celebrated the assassins of Mahatma Gandhi.
