“Mi Nathuram Godse Boltoy”, a Marathi play which is all about a hero who saved our nation from a paradoxical phenomenon, a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and non-violence, Gandhi. “Mi Gandhi Cha Vaadh Kela”, that’s what Sharad Ponkshe kept on repeating while getting into his character. His passion and the dialogues made me believe that assassination of Gandhi was the most ideal thing that our nation needed and the man who gave it to us by sacrificing his own life was also “a one man army”, the only person involved and the only person who made it happen. Well, I must say it is a nice effort by Pradeep Dalvi of telling people his point of view.
Recently I finally got hold of the only hope remained (as per my knowledge) about the assassination, The men who killed Gandhi by Mohan Malgaonkar. It is supported by unpublished documents and photographs of the trial and the assassins. The narration style is not at promising as it keeps moving from past to present but in-depth details of the murder are well described. It illustrates all the facts and episodes that happened before and after the murder , yes “the murder” and not “vadh” as what my Nathuram would have said.
I was surprised to know that there were an army of seven – Nathuram Godse , Narayan Apte , Gopal Godse, Badge,Shankar,Karkare and Mandanlal Pahwa . The day Gandhi was murdered was not the only time when they had tried to kill him. Reading their earlier murder plan made my heart ache. I never imagined my hero can think of a mass murder by throwing grenades during Gandhi’s Prayer hours just to kill one man. Moreover, he did not even take initiative but was happy to just be an observer to the task. He constantly complained that Gandhi had bought freedom to Pakistani’s. According to him, he was father of nation only for Muslims but unknowingly he was also fighting only for Hindus. I was confused why and what exactly made these young men take this decision. Were they not ok with the fact that a Hindu was supporting Muslims, or was it just the fact that Gandhi was so powerful that he was successful in making India a safe place for Muslims to live-in, while no other “hindu leaders” could do anything for the Hindus who were in Pakistan. I am not a follower of Gandhi’s beliefs either and will never be. The man who calls freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh a terrorist will never understand the pain that every Indian went through during the war of Independence, but I do know one thing if people are killed , oh I am sorry, if Hindu’s are killed in some place , does not give me the right to kill Muslims were I live.
Extra Curricular Activities of Narayan Apte were very disappointing and that itself made me not believe much in his patriotism. But till I finished the book, I always thought he was what is perfectly described in the Marathi Play “Nathurama chi Savli”. He tried to get an alibi from his mistress to make sure he is not trapped into the Gandhi murder case. Prosecution Witness, Badge, a path chosen by him to save himself, Gopal Godse backing out at the last moment choosing his life over death did not quite fascinate me. At the end, I just felt like it was a crime made by bunch of angry young teenagers.
I felt only common point between me and Godse are, I too believe Gandhi’s regular fast, as an answer to anything that went against him is like an angry wife fighting with her husband and the decision of giving 55 crores to Pakistan was just not acceptable. But killing Gandhi is also not justified to me yet.
I loved the book for the fact that it has not been partial at all. It has portrayed all the aspects of assassination. But I was a little upset to know that technically talking if Gandhi was struggling for peace then Godse was for independent and undivided Hinduism which he called as undivided Hindustan.
Recently I finally got hold of the only hope remained (as per my knowledge) about the assassination, The men who killed Gandhi by Mohan Malgaonkar. It is supported by unpublished documents and photographs of the trial and the assassins. The narration style is not at promising as it keeps moving from past to present but in-depth details of the murder are well described. It illustrates all the facts and episodes that happened before and after the murder , yes “the murder” and not “vadh” as what my Nathuram would have said.
I was surprised to know that there were an army of seven – Nathuram Godse , Narayan Apte , Gopal Godse, Badge,Shankar,Karkare and Mandanlal Pahwa . The day Gandhi was murdered was not the only time when they had tried to kill him. Reading their earlier murder plan made my heart ache. I never imagined my hero can think of a mass murder by throwing grenades during Gandhi’s Prayer hours just to kill one man. Moreover, he did not even take initiative but was happy to just be an observer to the task. He constantly complained that Gandhi had bought freedom to Pakistani’s. According to him, he was father of nation only for Muslims but unknowingly he was also fighting only for Hindus. I was confused why and what exactly made these young men take this decision. Were they not ok with the fact that a Hindu was supporting Muslims, or was it just the fact that Gandhi was so powerful that he was successful in making India a safe place for Muslims to live-in, while no other “hindu leaders” could do anything for the Hindus who were in Pakistan. I am not a follower of Gandhi’s beliefs either and will never be. The man who calls freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh a terrorist will never understand the pain that every Indian went through during the war of Independence, but I do know one thing if people are killed , oh I am sorry, if Hindu’s are killed in some place , does not give me the right to kill Muslims were I live.
Extra Curricular Activities of Narayan Apte were very disappointing and that itself made me not believe much in his patriotism. But till I finished the book, I always thought he was what is perfectly described in the Marathi Play “Nathurama chi Savli”. He tried to get an alibi from his mistress to make sure he is not trapped into the Gandhi murder case. Prosecution Witness, Badge, a path chosen by him to save himself, Gopal Godse backing out at the last moment choosing his life over death did not quite fascinate me. At the end, I just felt like it was a crime made by bunch of angry young teenagers.
I felt only common point between me and Godse are, I too believe Gandhi’s regular fast, as an answer to anything that went against him is like an angry wife fighting with her husband and the decision of giving 55 crores to Pakistan was just not acceptable. But killing Gandhi is also not justified to me yet.
I loved the book for the fact that it has not been partial at all. It has portrayed all the aspects of assassination. But I was a little upset to know that technically talking if Gandhi was struggling for peace then Godse was for independent and undivided Hinduism which he called as undivided Hindustan.
