Assassination of Gandhi

On the evening of January 30, 1948, as he carried on his usual prayer meeting at Birla mansion (New Delhi), Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead by Nathuram Godse. The event sent shock waves through the nation in making. Communalism and misinterpretation of nationalism were two fundamental factors under whose influence Godse killed Gandhi.

In an address to the nation on the All India Radio, Nehru summed up the mood and spirit of the time, “The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere… The best prayer we can offer him and his memory is to dedicate ourselves to truth and to the cause for which the great countryman of ours lived and for which he died.”

Sardar Patel appealed to the people not to seek revenge but to follow Gandhi’s message of love and non-violence. He said, “It is a shame for us that the greatest man of the world has had to pay with his life for the sins which we have committed. We did not follow him when he was alive; let us at least follow his steps now he is dead.”

Nathuram Godse was tried and sentenced to death. At his trial he declared that he had acted as he had because of Gandhi’s consistent pandering to the Muslims, “culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast [which] at last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhi should be brought to an end immediately.”

On February 4, 1948, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was banned by the government. It was felt by the

government that the right wing extremism which the RSS was seen to represent would be very harmful for the unity of the nation. Though not directly involved in the assassination of Gandhi, the organisation was seen to have a hand in the Punjab violence. It also attracted the support of many of the refugees. It was also rumoured that the members of the RSS had celebrated the death of Gandhi. Nehru considered that groups such as the RSS had “the blood of Mahatma Gandhi on their hands” even though they dissociated themselves from his killing. The ban was lifted in July 1949, when the RSS accepted the conditions laid down by the government. These conditions were that the Sangh would restrict itself to cultural activities and not meddle with politics; renounce its agenda of violence and secrecy; profess publicly loyalty to the Indian Constitution and flag (tri-colour); and organise itself on democratic principles.