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“On January 13, 1948, I learnt that Gandhiji had decided to go on fast unto death. The reason given was that he wanted an assurance of Hindu-Muslim Unity… But I and many others could easily see that the real motive… [was] to compel the Dominion Government to pay the sum of Rs 55 crores to Pakistan, the payment of which was emphatically refused by the Government…. But this decision of the people’s Government was reversed to suit the tune of Gandhiji’s fast. It was evident to my mind that the force of public opinion was nothing but a trifle when compared with the leanings of Gandhiji favourable to Pakistan. ….In 1946 or thereabout, Muslim atrocities perpetrated on Hindus under the Government patronage of Surhawardy in Noakhali made our blood boil. Our shame and indignation knew no bounds when we saw that Gandhiji had come forward to shield that very Surhawardy and began to style him as ‘Shaheed Saheb’ - a martyr - even in his prayer meetings… ….Gandhiji’s influence in the Congress first increased and then became supreme. His activities for public awakening were phenomenal in their intensity and were reinforced by the slogans of truth and non-violence which he ostentatiously paraded before the country… I could never conceive that an armed resistance to the aggressor is unjust… … Ram killed Ravan in a tumultuous fight… Krishna killed Kansa to end his wickedness… In condemning Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Govind as ‘misguided patriots,’ Gandhiji has merely exposed his self-conceit… Gandhiji was, paradoxically, a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and nonviolence, while Rana Pratap, Shivaji and the Guru will remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen forever… ….By 1919, Gandhiji had become desperate in his endeavours to get the Muslims to trust him and went from one absurd promise to another… He backed the Khilafat movement in this country and was able to enlist the full support of the National Congress in that policy… very soon the Moplah Rebellion showed that the Muslims had not the slightest idea of national unity… There followed a huge slaughter of Hindus… The British Government, entirely unmoved by the rebellion, suppressed it in a few months and left to Gandhiji the joy of his Hindu-Muslim Unity… British Imperialism emerged stronger, the Muslims became more fanatical, and the consequences were visited on the Hindus… The accumulating provocation of 32 years, culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast, at last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhiji should be brought to an end immediately… he developed a subjective mentality under which he alone was the final judge of what was right or wrong… Either Congress had to surrender its will to him and play second fiddle to all his eccentricity, whimsicality… or it had to carry on without him… He was the master brain guiding the civil disobedience movement… The movement may succeed or fail; it may bring untold disasters and political reverses, but that could make no difference to the Mahatma’s infallibility… These childish inanities and obstinacies, coupled with a most severe austerity of life, ceaseless work and lofty character, made Gandhiji formidable and irresistible… In a position of such absolute irresponsibility, Gandhiji was guilty of blunder after blunder… ….The Mahatma even supported the separation of Sindh from the Bombay Presidency and threw the Hindus of Sindh to the communal wolves. Numerous riots took place in Karachi, Sukkur, Shikarpur and other places in which the Hindus were the only sufferers… ….From August 1946 onwards, the private armies of the Muslim League began a massacre of the Hindus… Hindu blood began to flow from Bengal to Karachi with mild reactions in the Deccan… The Interim government formed in September was sabotaged by its Muslim League members, but the more they became disloyal and treasonable to the government of which they were a part, the greater was Gandhi’s infatuation for them… ….The Congress, which had boasted of its nationalism and socialism, secretly accepted Pakistan and abjectly surrendered to Jinnah. India was vivisected and one-third of the Indian territory became foreign land to us… This is what Gandhiji had achieved after 30 years of undisputed dictatorship, and this is what Congress party calls ‘freedom’… ….One of the conditions imposed by Gandhiji for his breaking of the fast unto death related to the mosques in Delhi occupied by Hindu refugees. But when Hindus in Pakistan were subjected to violent attacks he did not so much as utter a single word to protest and censure the Pakistan government… Gandhi is being referred to as the Father of the Nation. But if that is so, he had failed his paternal duty inasmuch as he has acted very treacherously to the nation by his consenting to the partitioning of it… The people of this country were eager and vehement in their opposition to Pakistan. But Gandhiji played false with the people… ….I shall be totally ruined, and the only thing I could expect from the people would be nothing but hatred… if I were to kill Gandhiji. But at the same time, I felt that Indian politics in the absence of Gandhiji would surely be proved practical, able to retaliate, and be powerful with armed forces. No doubt, my own future would be totally ruined, but the nation would be saved from the inroads of Pakistan… ….I do say that my shots were fired at the person whose policy and action had brought rack and ruin and destruction to millions of Hindus… There was no legal machinery by which such an offender could be brought to book, and for this reason I fired those fatal shots… ….I do not desire any mercy to be shown to me… I did fire shots at Gandhiji in open daylight. I did not make any attempt to run away; in fact I never entertained any idea of running away. I did not try to shoot myself… for, it was my ardent desire to give vent to my thoughts in an open Court. My confidence about the moral side of my action has not been shaken even by the criticism levelled of against it on all sides. I have no doubt, honest writers of history will weigh my act and find the true value thereof some day in future.” Nathuram Godse |
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