Hindu Mahasabha Plans to Instal Statues of Gandhi's Assassin

NEW DELHI: The organisation that killed Gandhi is now preparing to instal the statues of his assassin Nathuram Godse in at least five cities across India.

The Hindu Mahasabha has already displayed a sculpted bust of Gandhi’s assassin at its headquarters on Mandir Marg in Delhi. Godse is a “mahapurush” and a “great nationalist and ideology” according to this organisation.

For the Mahasabha that is very visible on the social media with its sites, and blogs Godse is “ a nationalist political leader.” He is being described by the organisation that was banned and changed its name after the assassination of Gandhi to the Jana Sangh as “an irreplaceable asset to the intellectual discourse of Hinduism.” It now wants to place Godse’s statue in public places across India.

“When there are roads named after Akbar, Aurangzeb and Mahatma Gandhi, why is the idea of installing sculptures of a national hero like Godse such a big issue?” the Sabha’s national president Chandra Prakash Kaushik is quoted in the media as saying. According to him Godse is not the villain, but “an educated political ideologue by intellect and a nationalist in heart and spirit.” Kaushik blames the Congress for using its decades in power to “turn the academic and intellectual discourse in favour of Gandhi.”

The Mahasabha that was active in the field as one of the many organisations working for a Hindu rashtra, has now jumped centrestage with this announcement to pay homage to Godse. There has been no response as yet from either the government or the BJP to this decision.