Commemoration of the Martyrdom of Father of the Nation should be Observed as a Pledge to Stand against RSS Neofascism
Today is the 75th anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse, the Hindutva fanatic who belonged to Hindu Mahasabha. On January 13, 1948, Gandhi said: ‘Death for me would be a glorious deliverance rather than that I should be a helpless witness of the destruction of India, Hinduism, Sikhism and Islam’, and further explained his ‘dream of Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians and Muslims of all India to live together in amity’.
This was followed by many attempts on the part of Hindutva forces to eliminate him. On January 20, a group of Hindutva fanatics, set off a bomb some yards from him, though it could not do any harm. But it was Godse who accomplished this Hindutva task on January 30, 1948.
Revealingly, immediately after Gandhi’s assassination, Patel, the then Home Minister, wrote to Nehru that “it was a fanatical wing of the Hindu Mahasabha directly under Savarkar that hatched the conspiracy.” Without directly implicating RSS in the murder, Patel said: His assassination was welcomed by those of the RSS and the Mahasabha who were strongly opposed to his way of thinking…” Patel also wrote about RSS’ indulgence “in the act of violence, robbery, dacoity and murders across India” The GOI communique On February 4, 1948, banning RSS justified it as necessary “to root out the forces of hate and violence thatk are at work in our country and imperil the freedom of the Nation and darken her fair name”.
Again, when RSS chief Golwalkar in his letter to Patel in September 1948 extended RSS’ offer to collaborate with the government to counter communism provided the ban on it was removed, Patel in his reply on September 11, 1948, among other things, reiterated : “All their speeches were full of communal poison … As a final result of that poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of Gandhiji … RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhiji’s death. It became inevitable for the government to take action against the RSS.”
Years later, though the Kapur Commission of Inquiry set up in 1965 for bringing out all facts behind the assassination of the Father of Nation could dug out many revealing details regarding involvement of Hindutva fascists in the whole issue, none of them was brought before the attention of the Court in time.
The story does not end there. On January 30, 2019, the 71st anniversary of Gandhi assassination, Puja Shakun Pandey, the shot at an effigy of Gandhi while her followers surrounded and applauded her before burning it. Though symbolic it conveys everything.
The upshot of the above explanation is straight and simple. Today when the country is commemorating the martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi, Hindutva fascism which was behind the assassination of Father of the Nation is now moving ahead with its maddening pace towards the establishment of a majoritarian Hindurashtra, the details of which are already in the public domain. Using its political tool BJP at the helm of power, now the the RSS has its hold over the entire macro and micro spheres of the country. Hence, it is high time on the part of all democratic forces to come unitedly forward resolutely exposing and challenging the heinous neofascist move taking place in India today.
P J James
