Tuesday, May 21, 2019

The Father of the Nation

Over the last few days, in elections, a dead subject was dusted and brought to the public discussion again - Nathuram Godse - the man who killed Gandhi. An actor called Kamal Hassan called him India's first terrorist and labelled him Hindu. Then Sadhvi Pragya called him a patriot and all hell broke loose.

I am glad that this happened, because when Godse got the spotlight, it directed the spotlight at Gandhi too.

One of my friends shared a video - Why Godse killed Gandhi. While the facts mentioned in the video were all true, they did present rather a propaganda version than the full thought process of Godse.
I tried looking for it on YouTube but didn't get it.

Here is the full text of Godse's submission to the Court - May it Please Your Honour. Read it. 

Coming back to my favourite topic, the Partition and the role of the Dynasty and the man in this sordid saga.

  • Gandhi appointed himself as the SOLE Negotiator on behalf of India. 

  • He then negotiated the following: 
    • Burma secedes as an independent nation. 
    • Muslims get a separate country, but India will still host the Muslims who want to stay. 
    • 4 of the major water carrying rivers of India go to Pakistan. 
    • Nanakana Sahib, the holiest place of the Sikhs, goes to Pakistan. 
    • Buddhist universities go to Pakistan. 

  • Someone said that no one could predict the mass violence that happened in 1947, and therefore, Gandhi cannot be held responsible for not planning for it. Religion based violence in India started as early as 1937, when the propaganda began. In 1942, India witnessed the first mass riots based on religion. In 1945, the partition of India was finally confirmed, solely on the basis of unending violence between the two communities. How can one not predict mass violence in a movement that will affect millions? THAT, imho, was Gandhi's greatest failure as a leader - he neither used his own foresight, nor allowed people who might have had foresight, to plan for, and avert this mass violence. 

  • He did not insist on non movement. The Muslims should create an Islamic country, but they must grant safety to the Hindus and Sikhs. The Muslims can move because they fear the Hindus (that was the public discourse - that Muslims cannot live safely with Hindus in majority. No one spoke, at that time, about there being any threat to Hindus on account of Muslim majority). OR, the rights of Hindus, who were the major land owners in these places, should have been protected. They should have got adequate compensation for the lands that they were leaving behind. How can the state usurp the property of its people like that?

  • He then subverted all internal democracy within the Congress by insisting that his nomination, and not the election of all the State committees, should become the PM. Then, he insisted on 55 crores being sent to Pakistan even as it was attacking our army in Kashmir. 
Gandhi sure IS the father of a nation - but that nation is Pakistan. Pakistan came into existence only because he failed - as an interlocutor between the Hindus and Muslims within the country, AND as an international negotiator on behalf of India. 

Therefore, I agree with this. In fact, it states exactly what I think: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKxheGoXf5c

The fathers of my nation are: 
A. Patel - who united 586 princely states into a single country and gave us ONE country, not 586 princely states. 
B. Ambedkar - who gave us the strong legal foundation on which this country still stands. 
C. The millions of people who went to jail, leaving behind starving wives and poor children and ailing parents. They died for the motherland. They really, truly, are the fathers of this nation.