Still Pursuing The Nathuram Dream

In a quiet corner of Pune, they manager to keep alive a sense of disquiet. The familiesof Mahatma Gandhi’s assassins continue to commemorate their "martyrdom" and cherish their unful-filled dream of an Akhand Bharat, or GreaterIndia. Once again, at a recent gathering, their views found an audience. Only this timethe focus was not Nathuram Godse or Narayan Apte, but co-conspirator Gopal Godse and hiswife Sindhutai.

A function at Pune to celebrate his 75th birthday on June 1 offered GopalGodse a forum to express his side of the story. "Everyday of Gandhi’s life washarmful to India. He was an impediment that had to be removed," said Gopal Godse, whospent 14 years in jail for his role in the conspiracy.

Still an angry man, he continued: "Yes, he’s the Father of theNation. But which nation? We hold him responsible for Partition. It is like child birthand delivery—when he takes credit for freedom, he should take the blame forPartition. One couldn’t have been there without the other."

 Gopal, who was arrested in Pune in February 1948, is the author ofGandhi Hatya Ani Me (Gandhi’s Assassination and I)among other works which recountboth the deed and the times. It is this literary contribution—and other efforts inthe field of architecture and science, including trying to establish that the Taj Mahalwas really a Shiv mandir—for which he was being felicitated, say the organisers. Atthe June 1 function, Vikram Savarkar, nephew of Veer Savarkar, ideologue of the HinduMahasabha whose role in the assassination conspiracy could never really be proved, sangpraises of the Godse family: "Gopal Godse’s contribution has been great. Likethe hundreds of people who have understood Nathuram Godse in the right perspective, andcome to functions held for him although there is no publicity, this gathering for him waswell-attended." The co-organiser of the function, disrupted by Congress and JanataDal activists, was the Hindu Mahila Sabha headed by Vikram Savarkar’s sister-in-law,Himani.

The other gatherings that Savarkar alluded to are the annual functionsorganised by the Godse family trust on November 15, the day Nathuram Godse and NarayanApte were hanged. The trust called the Nathuram Godse Godse Will Trust) observes the dayby renewing a pledge to carry out his wishes—to have his ashes immersed in the Sindhuriver (in Pakistan) when it becomes a part of India. Says Gopal Godse: "Our mainintention is to carry this on from generation to generation, till his wish isfulfilled."

 For others, any association with the name of Nathuram Godse hascreated problems. In 1991, Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray drew flak when he declared hisadmiration for Nathuram Godse at a Pune election rally, for the BJP’s Lok Sabhacandidate Anna Joshi. BJP leaders promptly disassociated themselves from the statement. Inan earlier election, Sharad Pawar had found Nathuram Godse an useful weapon against thesaffron combine when he coined the phrase "Otath Ram, potath Nathuram" (Ram ontheir lips and Nathuram in their stomachs).

This time, BJP legislators, who were expected to attend, stayed away from the function.However, Shiv Sena MLAs Suryakant Lonkar and Deepak Paigude attended and were seated onthe dais with the Godse couple.

Says a Sena functionary who was invited but could not go to Pune:"Balasaheb (Thackeray) said it was all right if I attended in my personalcapacity." While BJP veteran Atal Behari Vajpayee categorically said in Bombay thatthe party had nothing to do with such a function, and the RSS kept away, the Sena istaking care to say that individuals attended the function of their own accord and not onbehalf of their party.

The BJP’s stand has not endeared the of party to thehardliners—Mahatma’s antagonists. Says Savarkar, who is a former president ofthe All-India Hindu Mahasabha: "The BJP is full of double talk. What they say theydon’t mean, and what they mean they don’t say." Those who don’t seethings their way have few friends here. For, in this small corner of India, the roles arepermanently reversed: Nathuram Godse will always be the hero, and the Mahatma eternallythe villain.