The Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha is all set to install a bust of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin, Nathuram Godse near Mumbai.
The national spokesperson of the outfit, Pandit Pramod Joshi, has told The Indian Express that the two-foot-high white marble bust of Godse is ready in the Mahasabha’s Delhi office andwould be taken to Maharashtra. The statue weighs three tonnes.
Nathuram Godse, a Hindu fanatic, shot dead Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 and was sent to the gallows along with his accomplice Narayan Apte in 1949.
The paper reported that Mahasabha is in the process of purchasing a piece of land in Kalyan, near Mumbai for installing the bust.
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The bust has created controversy in Maharashtra. The Congress has said that the Hindu Mahasabha was playing with the feelings of 125 crore people of India.
“On the one hand, they speak of the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi; while on the other hand, they encourage building a memorial for his assassin. This proposal itself is wrong and the Congress has and will continue to oppose this," said party leader Naseem Khan.
The matter was also raised in the state Legislative Council. Congress MLC Sanjay Dutt through a point of propriety demanded that the government should urgently intervene to stop the construction.
"After coming to power by promising 'sabka sath, sabka vikas', the real face of the ruling government is coming to light, which proves that for them it is actually 'Mann mein Ram, dil mein Nathuram (Lord Ram in mind, Nathuram in heart)," Dutt said.
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Following this, the Maharashtra government assured the Upper House that it would take steps to stop building Godse’s memorial.
"We will conduct an inquiry into the matter and appropriate action would be taken against the people involved in the construction of the memorial," said Leader of the House and the state Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil while responding to Dutt.
The Hindu Mahasabha had got a bust of Nathuram Godse installed at its office in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut last October. They observed Gandhiji's birth anniversary as “ dhikkar diwas (day of shame and disgust)”.
(with agency inputs)
