Gandhi Journal Article-I : Assassination of Gandhi-The Facts Behind

Assassination of Gandhi-The Facts Behind

By Chunibhai Vaidya

The killer of Gandhiji and his apologists sought to justify the assassination on the following arguments:

1. Gandhiji supported the idea of a separate state for Muslims. In a sense he was responsible for the creation of Pakistan.

2.  In spite of the Pakistani aggression in Kashmir, Gandhiji fasted to compel the government of India to release an amount of Rs. 55 crores due to Pakistan.

3.  The belligerence of Muslims was a result of Gandhiji's policy of appeasement.

Scrutinized in the light of the recorded history these prove to be clever distortions to misguide the gullible. Gandhiji in those days was very active in the rough and tumble of politics. The proposal for partition of the country and violent reaction against it generated tensions which ultimately resulted in sectarian killings on a scale unprecedented in human history. For the ethnic Muslims, Gandhiji was a Hindu leader who opposed creation of Pakistan on sectarian grounds. Ethnic Hindus looked upon him as an impediment of their plan to revenge the atrocities on Hindus. Godse was a child of this extremist thinking.

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The Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, 1948

The Assassination of Gandhi, 1948

Just an old man in a loincloth in distant India: Yet when he died, humanity wept." This was the observation of a newspaper correspondent at the death of Mahatma Gandhi. The tragedy occurred in New Delhi as the gaunt old man walked to a prayer-meeting and was engulfed by one of history's great ironies - a life-long pacifist and promoter of non-violence struck down by an assassin's bullet.

Gandhi's violent death came just months after the realization of his long sought-after goal - the independence of India from Great Britain. It was a bitter-sweet victory for Gandhi because along with India's independence came the partitioning of the sub-continent into two separate states - Muslim-based Pakistan and Hindu-based India - an action he thoroughly opposed. Gandhi did not take part in the celebration of India's independence.

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