Gandhi and Godse
Godse had killed Gandhi but Pragya by her condemnable remarks is killing the ideals, principles of non-violence and peace in India.
Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit
During a road show in Madhya Pradesh, Pragya Singh Thakur a BJP candidate had said, that “Nathuram Godseji deshbhakt the, hai, aur rahenge, unko aatankwadi kahne wale log swayam ki gireban me jhaank kar dekhe chunav mein aise logon ko jawab de diya jayega” (Nathuram Godse was a patriot, is a patriot, and will remain a patriot those who call him a terrorist should look within they will get a reply in this election). The remark was ostensibly her response for Tamil star and politician Kamal Hasan’s recent description of Godse being “free India’s first terrorist”.
Pragya Singh Thakur’s praise of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination by Nathuram Godse has left the BJP squirming, more so because both PM Modi and party chief Amit Shah have justified the decision to field her in the Lok Sabha polls despite the terror charges against her.
This is not the first time the BJP has had to tone down Thakur’s comments since they announced her as a candidate. On the Babri Masjid demolition, Thakur had said that she was “proud” of her participation in the demolition at Ayodhya in 1992. The Election Commission had “strongly condemned” her remarks and barred her from campaigning for 72 hours last month, she had stoked a controversy when she said that IPS officer Hemant Karkare had died during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks as she had “cursed” him for torturing her. She had apologised for the controversial remark later and also retracted that statement. In Malegaon bomb blast in 2008 that claimed six lives and injured over a 100, she had made controversial statements and then apologized. Incidentally, she made the remarks about Godse at a time when Modi had just launched the Swachh Bharat Mission, exhorting people to fulfil the Mahatma’s dream of a clean and hygienic India. PM Modi has rightly said that he will never forgive BJP candidate Pragya for insulting Mahatma Gandhi by calling his assassin Nathuram Godse a true patriot.
The remarks made about Gandhiji whose nonviolent ideals and leadership of the Indian Independence movement had gained him hundreds of thousands of devoted followers than Nathuram Godse a Hindu extremist. Nathuram Godse, the man who killed Gandhi, remains a controversial figure in India to this day.
Gandhi and Godse represented two contrasting ideas of politics and religion. Godse saw Gandhi as the father of the nation who was effeminate in nature and failed to protect the country with his non-violent approach. He was a man who tried power. He joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and left it after finding it not militant enough. He then joined the Hindu Mahasabha.
In his speech, Godse also accused Gandhi of dividing the country into India and Pakistan. The assassination of Gandhi was not in a fit of rage; it was meditated and ideologically inspired to send a clear message to the entire nation. Godse had killed Gandhi but Pragya by her condemnable remarks is killing the ideals, principles of non-violence and peace in India.
(The writer is based in Ahmadabad)
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