Who Killed Gandhi

At the end of World War II, as the British withdrew from the Indian subcontinent, they left behind colonial legacy of civil war and destruction. With the grant of independence, Indians could rejoice and weep at the same time. As a free nation India had at last, acquired its rightful place in the United Nations, but with the partition, had emerged a hostile state of Pakistan. I was then 17, when in 1947-48 the subcontinent was plunged into religious hatred and bloodshed from east to west, from Dhaka to the extremity of North-West Frontiers of the subcontinent. We witnessed mayhem and blood-bath. More than a million innocent men, women and children of all faiths were killed. 22,000 reported cases of rape and kidnapping of women, and 220,000 persons were reported missing.

Millions on both sides of the divide were uprooted from their ancestral homes and miles and miles long caravans of refugees were moving from East to West and from the West to the East. Tens of thousands perished in the religious frenzy. But just before the 1947 holocaust, the capital city of Delhi had plunged into civil disorder. At a tender age of 10, I had come under the influence of Hindu chauvinist movement Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). As a regular member of RSS, I learnt military drill and discipline. For over five years in RSS, I had imbibed the fascistic ideology of the Hindu fanatic organization. I was committed to preserve the Hindu Nation (Rashtra).

I was born into a scholarly Brahmin family. In the family, we believed in infallibility of the Holy books of the Vedas. We were also taught to be proud inheritors of the ancient Vedic civilization as we were ‘the chosen people’. The Vedas were the source of all true knowledge and wisdom, which had been handed down to us Hindus, the most civilized people on this earth from time immemorial. Thus, the protection and preservation of Mother India and the Hindus was the most noble cause for which we were prepared to die. During the RSS drills and discourses we sang the patriotic songs in which enthusiastically we offered ‘our heads’ and wished martyrdom which we believed was to lead us to ‘spiritual liberation’. If we died in defence of Hindu nation, God would send us to heaven, so we believed. As a proof we were given the testament of the Geeta, which says that if you die defending your dharma, you go to heaven !

As a young volunteer of RSS, I was actively involved in the religious civil war which was raging in those dark days in the country. Tens of thousands were killed and many more thousands were looted and millions were made homeless from their traditional lands. Those were the days when the administration had collapsed and it was free for all. The capital city of Delhi was the scene of hundreds of dead bodies strewn in its streets; houses were looted and burnt. In that chaotic situation, it was the organized RSS youth which were roaming the streets ‘defending the Hindu Nation.’

No voice of reason and sanity could calm the people. No prayer or appeal could restore the peace. Total madness prevailed. Political leaders were helpless and religious leaders were partisans. No religious leader – Hindu or Muslim – was there to preach peace and brotherhood. That was the historical hour when Mahatma Gandhi came to the capital and went on fast. He was 90. His health deteriorated and in order to save the life of Gandhi, the entire population surrendered their arms before an unarmed dying old man. The majority community of Hindus promised to Mahatma that the Muslims would not be harmed. Tens of thousands of Muslim families under the armed escorts were shifted to safety of refugee camps. It was because of the presence of the Mahatma that the peace was restored in the capital of Independent India. This was the victory of reasons and compassion over emotion and hatred. But in this act of Mahatma, the Hindu fanatics saw their ideological defeat.

On January 30, 1948, in New Delhi, Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Indian Freedom, was gunned down by a Hindu fanatic Brahmin. As Einstein said the future generations would not believe that such a man ever walked on this earth. That day when Gandhi was shot dead, I took part in the secret celebration where the RSS diehards distributed ‘ladoos’ (sweets).

Christ had carried the Cross and now the Mahatma bore the bullets to save humanity. Following Gandhi’s assassination, in millions of homes in India, lamps were not lit that night, nor food was cooked.

The day the Mahatma was cremated on the west bank of the river Yamuna, at the outskirts of Delhi, many heads of Government of rich and poor, black and white nations had gathered to pay homage to Gandhi. I had never seen such a mammoth gathering of human bodies: for miles and miles nothing could be seen except the weeping masses. I was one of those who hated the old man and had secretly celebrated his death. But now standing on the Yamuna bridge I was witnessing the crowd, a million strong gathered for cremation of the man who had died defending our humanity.

I wanted to run away from the scene; but could not. I thought for a moment to shout that he was an evil old man. But that was the moment of enlightenment. If the Mahatma represented the satanic forces, as I was made to believe in the RSS, if he was man of evil powers, then his death should have brought victory to our Hindu Nation. My mind was disturbed: How could these tens of thousands were in mourning at the death of the evil man? That was the day I was converted to the doctrine of world peace and brotherhood. I never returned to the fold of any narrow chauvinistic patriotism. No more could now I believe in one’s ethnic or religious superiority.