Who Killed Gandhi?
There were two organisations with whom all the accused were closely associated, RSS and Hindu Mahasabha
Nathuram Godse shot Bapu thrice and killed him, but this chronic failure was incapable of succeeding without the support of his leader and the organisation and its fanatic cadre. The accused enjoyed country wide support, easy and unlimited funds and supplies. This could not have been possible without organisational involvement. There were two organisations with whom all the accused were closely associated, RSS and Hindu Mahasabha. For some strange reason despite clues and confessions these two organisations were never investigated. Why? We will never know.
Godse and Apte were known to boast and brag, but were not known to deliver. To impress Savarkar they used to brag about various schemes to attack Muslims, Nizam of Hyderabad and Muslim League. Their modus operandi was to seek Savarkar’s blessings for their schemes and then seek finance and support from members of RSS, Hindu Mahasabha and staunch Savarkarites. One of the first scheme they sold was a plan to raid revenue agencies of the Hyderabad Nizam close to its border with the Bombay Province. For this they collected funds, then they approached Dixit Maharaj, brother of a religious head of a Vaishnava sect and a supporter of Hindu cause and asked him for one of his large cars. Three weeks went by when no news of raids on the Nizam were reported, Dixit Maharaj came looking for his car, he found Apte romancing his girl friend in the car he had borrowed for the raid. Next the duo came up with a proposal to blow up the Pak Assembly with a mortar. They secured Savarkar’s blessings and collected funds, but did not deliver. When news came that two special trains carrying weapons arms and ammunitions, Pakistan’s share of military hardware , would travel to Pakistan. The duo sold a scheme of blowing up both the trains using bazookas. This time too, there was no action.
Then they decided to buy a Stengun and use it to strafe fleeing Muslims. They abandoned it after not being able to even cock it. The final scheme they attempted to sell was to set up a supply chain of arms and ammunitions to fight the Kabalis invading Kashmir. They promised to recruit and train young Hindu fighters to fight the Kabalis invading Kashmir, but by now their backers had lost faith in them.
There was a link between all the failed attempts on Bapu’s life and his murder. There were five known attempts on Bapu’s life, which failed. In each one of them the common factor was Poona, Godse, Apte and RSS and Hindu Mahasabha members. Accept for the last one, all happened prior to independence and were not investigated. The first on 25th June 1934, Poona; second July 1944, Panchgani; third September, 1944, Sevagram; fourth, 19th June, 1946, Somewhere in the Western Ghats between Karjat and Khandala; and fifth on 20th January, 1948, Birla House, New Delhi. All failed, accept in the first and fourth where no one was caught and none were investigated, in the three others Apte, Godse and the participation of RSS and Hindu Mahasabha members was reported.
What is chilling is that unlike popular perception that Godse took advantage of an opportunity to murdered Bapu, Bapu’s murder was methodically planned and although the attempts failed, finally it was these preparations which helped the chronic failures, Godse and Apte, to succeed.
Since 1946, after the Direct Action Day killings and the retaliatory massacres in its wake, whenever Bapu was in Delhi and he conducted his public multi faith evening prayers, every time the Aayats from the Koran were read, people would raise up and protest. The protests turned progressively severe and aggressive. Apte and Godse had even boasted about carrying out one very aggressive protest at the Sweeper’s Colony, ‘We sacred him off’ they had boasted in Poona. The last failed attempt and when Nathuram eventually murdered Bapu were both at the time of his evening prayers. The plan was to create an impression to convey that people were angry with Bapu for his insistence on reciting Islamic prayers and the murder happened as an eruption of spontaneous fury against his obduracy. Godse and Apte did not have the capability to sustain such a long term campaign, the RSS did.
Till two days before before Bapu was murdered, Godse did not possess a gun. Miraculously on 28th January 1948, Godse and Apte procured one of the best pistols of that time from Gwalior. The most efficient, a favourite of close range killers, fully loaded, ‘Fascist Special’ Beretta 9 mm Semi-Automatic. Parchure of Gwalior, was arrested for helping them procure the gun, he confessed everything. But in the High Court appeal, a clever defence lawyer got him acquitted citing a procedural lapse in his arrest. What is shocking is that, how Godse acquired the gun and where it came from was never investigated. They could not have procured the gun without the help of a pan national organisation. RSS was a pan national organisation with a fanatically loyal cadre who were willing to abide by ‘Aadesh’, orders from headquarters. There was a fanatic Savarkar Bhakt in Gwalior who would do anything on an ‘Aadesh’ from his idol, Parchure.
No courts or inquiry commissions ever absolved RSS from involvement in the Gandhi murder, they could not convict them because they were not asked to pass judgement on them.The fact remains that although on 30th January 1948 at 5:17 p.m. Nathuram Godse did pump 3 bullets into Bapu’s chest from point blank range and murdered him, the loaded gun was put in his hands by his patrons and supportive organisations, and the Aadesh, order came from them too.
