Police block bid to erect statue of Gandhi’s assassin
NEW DELHI — For the past several weeks, a Hindu fringe group in India has been attracting attention around the world because of its plans to erect a bust in honour of Nathuram Godse, the man who assassinated Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi in 1948.
Organizers had chosen Friday, the 67th anniversary of the freedom fighter’s death, as the big day. They had a bust of Godse ready to go — and had even conducted a special purification ritual at the temple spot in the northern city of Meerut, 69 kilometres northeast of New Delhi. They demanded that Friday be declared as a “day of courage” across India, to mark what they regard was Godse’s brave act.
But on Friday, members of the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha said they were prohibited from leaving their office to implement the plan. Police, concerned that the move could prompt community tension, sealed the site with ropes and stuck a prohibitory notice on the wall that barred any installation activity.
The move has confounded many in India — and around the world. It would be like a group of Americans threatening to erect a statue of James Earl Ray, who killed Martin Luther King Jr., or John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln.
Yet this is not the first time the group has vented its desire to celebrate Godse. They did the same when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party was last in power more than a decade ago.
Members of the group consider Godse a patriot because he killed the man they hold responsible for the country’s violent partition into Hindu- majority India and Muslimmajority Pakistan in 1947. Godse was a member of the Hindu-pride group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, but quit in the early 1940s. Modi began his early political career as a member of the group.
In December, Sakshi Maharaj, a lawmaker from Modi’s party, called Godse a patriot. A day later he apologized amid loud opposition. In recent weeks, many Hindu fringe groups have raised contentious issues like religious conversions..
“For so many years Gandhi has been revered as a great soul by Indians. We want to tell the youth that it is all a lie,” said Abhishek Agarwaal, 36, district president of the group.
“Godse was the true patriot. We do not regard Gandhi as the father of the nation. He was too soft on Muslims. It was because of him that Pakistan was created out of my motherland.”
We do not regard Gandhi as the father of the nation. He was too soft on Muslims. It was because of him that Pakistan was created out of my motherland.
ABHISHEK AGARWAAL
DISTRICT PRESIDENT OF THE AKHIL BHARATIYA HINDU MAHASABHA