Perhaps no Indian amongst the ordinary citizen that has ever lived in India would have been remembered so many a times in a doffing way as this man whom we call him Nathuram Godse is remembered No sooner the elections maybe the state or the national election comes this name is repeated by many-and-many leaders differently and differently to proclaim that this man was the worst ever to have been born at India and that there would not be anyone who would be as worst as this man if India has to produce and ever produce the worst man as an Indian here in the land of India.
The question that arises is, was Nathuram Godse such a demon that was ever born in India? It is very imperative to know everything about this man and this article is a small attempt to furnish all about this man who is the killer of Mahatma Mohanchand Karamdas Gandhi who was the father of India as we call him the father of the Nation. Well let us try to figure out everything about this man:
His Birth
It is a debatable question as to when was he born and at what date But this is a proven record that he was born at Baramati at Maharashtra He was the fourth out of the total of five siblings that were taken to the Godse family which then resided at Baramati Before he was born his two brothers and a sister all had passed away in their early childhood The family in spite of their best attempt could not save those siblings that were born to them.
Hence when Nathuram Godse was born, he was brought up like a girl Some astrologer had advised the family members that if this child was to live long he ought to be brought up like a girl and this ought to be maintained till it was necessary for them for doing it Thus he was brought up like a girl His nose was drilled. Nathhu was pierced into that because of the Nathani later he was called Nathhu, which means the ornament of the nose. He was named as Ramchandra by his family members and the name Ram then was added to it He became Natthuram, and that is how his name was Nathuram who was Ramchandra Godse by all mean and by all standard.
There was a brother that came to his family after so many years that he survived living his life as a girl in the initial year When that was born the astrologers again advised his family members that the worst of the phase of his childhood is over and that he could be brought up like a little person is brought up at India Thus came the normalcy of leading a healthy life for this man.
Early Childhood
He was admitted in a Brahmin school which had the medium of instruction that taught Marathi, and the studies were basically and mostly devoted to the Brahmanism and the way that was destructed here at India That was an influence in his mind He always stood up against the injustice and in his school, he was thrashed up many times to speak against the laid back system of anything, but that would not deter him from opening his mouth for anything which was or that was laid back.
Secondly, he had to feel the pang of leading a life of a girl even though he was a boy The agony of suffering the worst in terms of the sarcastic remarks that were thrown on him at that stage of his life also made him a hard man He would not tolerate the insults and the wrongs for anything in his life. This seed was sown in his life so early as a midget That was also something which shaped his mental aptitude. He was a born silent listener. Still, a rebel within He would not say anything to anybody thus keeping his cob at bay, but he would fiercely revolt when the time came up as such to demonstrate how tough a man from the within was he.
He was brilliant in his studies, and he was simply extraordinary in the subjects that were imparted to him as a lesson during his studies. At the same time, at the school. However, after his matriculation, he gave away his studies The reason was his family members could not afford that expenditure Else he had a merely extraordinary brain.
His early days
He was hardly 15 years of age when he joined the Samaj Sudhar-vicar, an organisation a social one then that existed at Baramati That brought him to render his service to the cause of the social upliftment and for the down trodden’s of India This brought him to the notice of the Sangh and their Vicharak. He was the ground level worker for the Sangh soon.
His work and the heart that he poured into his work won many a praise from the ones who were elder to him in age and as well as in seniority. He was a well-known figure within the organisation which used to work for the cause of the social upliftment of India.
Nathuram Godse as a tailor
In his teen his and his family were under such a very tight spell of a terrible financial condition that he had to switch the dresses of the RSS for his living at Pune He charged a very nominal fees from the RSS for this On many a stage his mother refrained him to do that a job for the RSS. She asked him to continue his studies, but he would not listen to his mother. He would say that by doing this, he was serving the warriors of the motherland who were involved in gaining independence for India.
His contribution to the social literature of India
India at that time was a slave of the British The Britishers had laid so many a rules that were piercing the society of this country then The reforms of the Britishers who were hell-bound into the system of conversion was something which was making the life a hell for all these so-called the Hindi Hindu Samaj Sanstha, then, was finding it hard to digest the forcibly applied rules especially on the Hindus who were poor and were living absolutely at the mercies of the Britishers That was the time he took a plunge for writing.
First job as an editor cum translator
He came into contact with Golwalkar then who introduced him to Hegdewar Hegdewar was stunned by the kind of knowledge he carried on many a subject that had to do with Hinduism He was asked to do something that would awake the Hindus who were a mental slave to the Britishers That was the time he translated along with Hegdewar many books on Hindusim into English and many a book those were published by the Britishers here at India to Hindi and Sanskrit It was to enlighten the Indian about the kind of a trap that they were putting themselves into, that were laid here by the British.
These books created terrific ripples here at India, and it arose the general public especially the Hindus to wake and rise to know the reality and the truth that they were unaware of thus his piece would wake up the Hindus who were firmly saddled by the Britishers in the darkest corner of everything in their life.
However there arose a difference between the top-notch of the RSS and Godse Though it was he who was the real man who converted the books into the language that I have mentioned, it was Hegdewar who took all the credits for that This brought out the rebellion character that was in him. He parted his way from the RSS after That is the reason even today the RSS says that Nathuram Godse was never an RSS man for anything or everything.
He then joined a Newspaper at Baramati and moved to Sangli later to carry on and spread the newspaper at almost all the part of Maharashtra His writings were piercing the Britishers Again one of his family members got married to the family members of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar whom we call him as Veer Sararkar thus he was related to Savarkar who was a hardcore Hindu His cross-pollination of the ideas that he shared with Savarkar and the ideas that he could generate of and for the Hindu’s later made him a hard-core-Hindu This is how he became a hardcore Hindu.
The assassination of Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi- Why and What was the reason behind
Nathuram Godse was never in favour of the two-nation theory But he was always harping the idea of India being termed as the Hindu Nation and harbouring a hope that it would be Mahatma Gandhi who would take the initiative of proclaiming India as a NATION OF THE HINDU’S.
Gandhi took no pain to do That formed a wrong opinion about Mahatma Gandhi at his heart This he took it in a gruesome manner All about Hinduism that he studied and all about the Hinduism that he learned he believed that this land should be termed as a land of the Hindus This belief when not met in order as a national proclamation by the then top leaders made him go insane for everything He lost his like for the Congress then and his affection for Gandhi.
Again after that- when Gandhi handed over the first cheque of Rs 25 crores to Mohammed Ali Jinnah when the Nation was divided into two, he became very furious then The total reserve that the Britishers handed over to the Indians was Rs 73 crores The population of this country then was 41 crores The average capita to be spent on every Indian was then at Rs 1=80 That was it.
Again for some reason Jinnah then had invited Gandhi to Pakistan There Gandhi was to hand him over the remaining Rs 48 crores When Jinnah had left the shore of this country what remained with us was only Rs 48 crores Divide it amongst the Indian for their development it worked out to be Rs 1=08 per Indian.
Why is that this man wants to be so generous for the Pakistani Here in India we are left with nothing for our development and there Gandhi wishes to hand over all the booty to them What would remain for us for our development This question was that he started putting across to every Indian through his write-ups and the words wherever he was invited for the Sabha.
On a personal front there was much organisation like the RSS, the organisation those were promoting the Hinduism through the principles of Hinduism and some good Samaritans who met Gandhi Ji and requested him to change his view, but the father of the Nation was adamant He wanted to hand over the entire booty to the Pakistani’s This infuriated Godse.
He took a decision then He invited as many as six different hard-core-Hindu’s all his friends and debate about how to stop Gandhi Ji doing all these Seeing no other plans in mind he took a decision of slaying Gandhi Ji, whatever the cost would be. He started from Sangli and came to Baramati to meet his parents He spoke to them all about his plans His parents were shocked to hear these from his mouth Every word of explanation by his parents went to the drains From Baramati he came to Nagpur and spoke to the RSS about this His words were simple- either follow me to Gandhi so that we request him to forgo his plan or help me to wipe away this man from this earth The RSS were not for staining Gandhi Finding no nods from the RSS he moved to Delhi via a flight along with his friend.
He studied all about Gandhi Ji’s daily routine that Gandhi followed at Delhi The only way to kill him would be go to the Sabha where he holds his prayers every day During that time anybody could go to the Sabha where Gandhi would hold his prayers Anybody would meet him after the Sabha and talk to him Gandhi Ji also kept himself very open to the public for interacting with him after his prayers no security was beefed up for his safety In spite of the Government asking him to be within the permissible limit of the security Gandhi did not claim for any protection That gave an open space for anybody to do anything if he or she wishes to do anything with Gandhi This he studied very meticulously.
He needed a revolver The question was- where to get the money to buy that He contacted a friend who was a hardcore believer of Hinduism at Gwalior and the friend assured him of buying a revolver for him He travelled from Delhi to Gwalior, he searched in for a pocket revolver, got that, purchased it from the help of some Hindi-cum-Hindu samaritan who were deadly against the principles of Mahatma Gandhi and Jinnah as well as Pakistan, and he travelled back to Delhi.
On two consecutive days before he assassinated Gandhi Ji, he went top the place where Gandhi would hold his prayers, and he measured everything that he wanted to do in terms of the execution He chose his spot and the moment that he would execute to assassinate Gandhi.
January 30th 1948 was the day when he assassinated Gandhi Ji A night before he went with the three friends that he was residing at the Delhi Railway Station to give his plans a thumbs-up, to a local Dhaba and ate the last dinner of his life amongst the friends After the dinner the other two friends went to see a movie MAHAL featuring Ashok Kumar and Madhubala They insisted him to accompany them for the film, but he did not. He had purchased a book written by James Hadley Chase – a murder thriller, and he kept on reading that book all through the night His friends who came to the room after watching the movie asked him to retire for the day, but he refused. He kept on reading that book- thus making his mind very strong and sturdy as the rock or the iron He knew that he had to do a job without any element of mistake and the first attempt would be the last one He knew that assassinating a personality like Gandhi Ji will give no second chance Hence that James Hadley Chase thriller was perfecting his state of mind before everything that was in store for him to execute his planning’s properly.
On that fateful day, on January 30th 1948 he did not eat anything for the whole day He chose his time However before embarking for the final assault and just asked a friend to supply him some big nuts which they brought and gave it to him He ate some. Finally, he set his feet to the place for his final act.
The prayers were to take place He reached the spot along with his two friends Mincing his eye to his friends he ordered them to take their position at the right from where he would shoot Gandhi Ji The other friend who accompanied him was asked to be to his left and behind by ablest and at least six or seven steps That was his planning.
Once he saw Gandhi Ji amidst Rajkumari Ait Kaur and another lady who was helping Gandhi to walk to the place of prayers he reached before Gandhi Ji, saw him, glanced at him, bent upon to touch his feet, and then rose to send him a signal of pranam before shooting him with three rounds of shot from a point-blank range Thus ended the life of the father of the Nation.
He did not run away from the spot He remained there static and poised lest the police rushed to the spot When the police rushed to him he gave him to the police He was sent to jail and was treated with electrocutions and electrical shocks That also did not deter him or make him uneasy He was tried out and was allowed to explain why did he commit such a dastardly” murder He always replied that If Gandhi did not give Jinnah those Rs 25 crores and would not have laid a plot to hand him the other Rs 48 crores he would not have killed the father of the Nation at all.
All he kept on saying at every minute of the trial was, “I killed him to save India from poverty from where India could not have recovered from else I had nothing against him.”
He was hanged at Ludhiana Some author says that he was hanged at some other jail at Punjab Well the fact is he was hanged until death There were two or three mercy petition that was thrown to the Government of India to a least change his death order to the lifetime jail and imprisonment, but that fell into the deaf ears of Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel.
Life of his family member after his death
After his death, his family members were tortured mentally like anything One of his family member who was with the Reserve bank of India was never considered for any promotion His other family members were not allowed to enrol themselves to the school or Colleges to continue their studies Many of the woman folks who were related to him as relatives were not married. Most of them remained spinsters in their life.
So much so that one of his very distant relative who was trying to make a mark for herself in the arena of modelling and film was not given any place and consideration to move ahead in that field with gusto or anything.
Inference
It is over 71 years that this man has been hanged. He was given and handed the WORST of the punishment at the jail. He took that with pride He would always tell the jailor that they were doing their’s duty as he had done his duty by killing Gandhi That he was not repenting for his act why should the jail authorities regret for the same many would shed some tears when he was subjected to those harsh cruelties. Still, he would console them Never did he feel the pain about anything- be it staining the Mahatma or at any moment that he was subjected to cruelties at jail The electrical shocks too did not bother him much.
It is just that we have to stop making him a piece to garner the votes during the election There are many an instance where slaying has been done by the politicians saddled in the power – and those are even heinous than the one which he did that He shot point-blank The one’s who have committed to that has given many a peaceful pain and drove them to death itching many wounds on their body This also ought to be kept in mind.
Killing or slaying anybody is not right, But he saved India by going into the utmost rubbles of poverty Once for all it needs to be stopped using his name for to garner the franchise and the votes He might have been a villain or a bad man But those who have killed the others for their political gain- are they anything better than this man.
Assassination for that matter has never changed the history of the politics or the world This also will never However here has to be an end to using his name during the time of politics and now every injustice or the discrimination that is meted out to his family after 71 years of the assassination of the father of the Nation has to be stopped He received his punishment Why should the other members of his family receive that In politics- India has many like Nathuram Godse who are still roaming free or are at large.
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