An assassin speaks 'Gandhi must be stopped at any cost'
Pradeep Dalvi's controversial play Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy has once again ruffled feathers. Like it did in
1989, when the playwright was denied permission by the Maharashtra government to stage the drama. After its brief resurrection nine years later, the state government has now banned the play.
Read the play and judge for yourself if the ban was justified.
(The stage is dark save for one spotlight, which is focused on Nathuram, who is standing with his back to the
audience. Suddenly he turns and starts looking at the faces in the audience, as if he is searching for someone. Ultimately, he jerks his neck indicating denial or negation and looks up. Now he is directly looking at the audience.)
Nathuram: No. All the faces are unknown. Actually 'unknown' is the wrong word to use in this ... All your faces are very
fresh to me...fresh and new. They are, of course, new to me, but mind you, they are not unfamiliar.
The youngsters among you, were not even born at that time. You must have read about me as a Hindu fanatic in the history written by the government. The middle-aged amongst you must be very confused clinging to their parents, who in turn were running around to save themselves from themassacre of Brahmins as the outcome of the assassination -- asking: 'Who isthe Nathuram? Why are our houses being burnt because of him?"
But the elders among you... You must remember me! You must have heard about me on the radio. Some of you might have read Agrani, the newspaper run by myself and Nana Apte. Some of you might have attended my meetings and heard my speeches. Some of you may be knowing me directly or might have met me, but must be refusing the
acquaintance after January 30, 1948.
Do you know how old I am? eighty-eight, nearly 90! Do you think I am lying, because I look young? Do you know, the mystery behind my youth is my death. My death...it was untimely, but it was heartily accepted!
I was born at the beginning of this century on May 19, 1910. My father Vinayakrao was in the postal service, my mother's name was Laxmi.
Vinayakrao was drawing a salary of Rs 15 per month. He used to spend Rs10 on his family and send Rs 5 to his parents.
Vinayakrao and his wife had three sons, none of them survived. They prayed to God, had their fourth son, Nathuram. Nathuram survived because they were destined to suffer for their young son's death and Gandhi was destined to be
assassinated.
The rest of my life was very smooth.
I never stole in my childhood, so there was no question of apologising to myfather. I never took a vow of celibacy as I was already practising celibacy. I was moving around the refugee camps and helping the destitute with food and clothes. But I did not wander half-naked because the refugees were naked. I never spun yarn, never cleaned my toilet, never observed silence till I was hanged. There was only one common factor in Gandhi's life and mine.
We were both the cause of each other's death. He wanted to live for his principles and I was prepared to die for my principles.
But the interesting part of the biography of Nathuram Godse starts on January 30, 1948. After the assassination of Gandhi.
In a sense, I lived only for 655 days -- from January 30, 1948 to November15, 1949. But January 30 was an outcome of January 13.
The central government had taken a decision -- Pakistan will not be given Rs 55 crores. On January 13 Gandhi started a fast unto death that Pakistan must be given the money. On January 13, the central government changed its earlier decision and announced that Pakistan would be given the amount.
On January 13, I decided to assassinate Gandhi.
January 13, 1948
(The editorial room of Agrani. There is the normal chaos that exists in the editorial room of any newspaper. Nana Apte enters.)
Nana: Pandit, where are you? Visu...
Visu: (Enters) Sir.
Nana: Have you composed and assembled the first page? Break the
compose. This is a stop press news.
Visu: You want me to recompose the first page? There
will not be any issue
tomorrow.
Nana: Listen, we just have to reassemble the first
page. This is a very
important news. It was on the radio.
Visu: But Panditsaab is rewriting the editorial. I have
to recompose and
print that matter. How can we...
Nana: Where is Pandit?
Visu: He is sitting in the composing section. He is
completing the pages and
giving them for composing.
Nana: Call him.
Nathuram: Call? Whom?
Nana: I wanted to call you. We have to prepare the
front page again.
Nathuram: No need. My new editorial is on the same
subject. Visu just get us coffee. (Visu goes)
Nana: Do you know the news I am talking about?
Nathuram: Yes, of course. The Cabinet has changed its
decision. It is giving Rs 55 crore to Pakistan. Gandhi has broken his
fast.
Nana: You changed your editorial?
Nathuram: Yes. I thought that my previous editorial was
nothing but a pack of lies.
Nana: Pack of lies? And written by you? Impossible!
Nathuram: Yes. Tomorrow is January 14, Makar Sankranti.
I had written in the editorial, 'Don't celebrate Sankranti tomorrow,
don't take sweets, don't behave in a sweet manner. Distribute rifles,
bullets, weapons. Don't talk sweet, talk of war. Kill the enemies.''
Nana: It is true, what you had written.
Nathuram: You have not asked me about the title of my
new editorial.
Nana: What is that?
Nathuram: Mere talk without actions is futile.
Nana: Meaning...?
Nathuram: It is time for protests in constitutional
ways, processions,pickets to come to an end when the establishment
resorts to mindless injustices. You can't just warn the government through
editorials at such hours. Tell me Nana. What do you mean by people will
not tolerate, people will revolt...and so on? Who are these people? Do you
mean our readers or those who attend our meetings and listen to our
speeches? No, Nana, people also mean you and me, us. If we forget what we
write and what we talk then our editorials and brave speeches in the
meetings and futile. A man addressing from the dais is also a part of the crowd
sitting before him. When we say that the people should revolt, it means that we
should revolt!
Nana: You have written all this?
Nathuram: Yes, I have written celebrate Dassera
tomorrow, the festival on which war is proclaimed.
Nana: Pandit, we will be arrested.
Nathuram: I don't think, our Agrani is the mouthpiece of Hindu religion. When the government does not give
importance to Hinduism, the question of being a mouthpiece does not arise.
Our restraint is misinterpreted. Our massacre is neglected. They presume
that we will bear everything with folded hands. Our anger has lost its fuel to
burn, we know only the art of pardoning. They will torture us and massacre
us and we will bear it coolly... it has become a law of nature. I don't think
they will take cognisance of this mouthpiece of Hinduism. Yes, the
government will think seriously while arguing the case in the court.
Nana: Which case?
Nathuram: IPC 302, the assassination of Gandhi.
Nana: Pandit, what are you talking?
Nathuram: Of course Nana, while writing the editorial,
I was constantly telling myself -- these are not mere thoughts, they are
a prelude to an action!
Nana: I have utmost confidence that Nathuram can never
make a mistake,he is always right. But I want to ask you something
because a blind follower cannot be a genuine friend...
Nathuram: Gandhi must be stopped at any cost.
Nana: I do agree with you.
Nathuram: And there is only one remedy to stop him. His
assassination.
Nana: But don't you think it's a hasty decision?
Nathuram: You are wrong Nana. Assassination is never as
easy as picking up a rifle and pulling the trigger, assassination is
never an accident. Yes, murder could be an accident but not assassination. In
this case of Gandhi, it could never be...
Nana: Are you convinced that it is inevitable?
Nathuram: Of course, it is not only inevitable, but is
a delayed action.
Nana: Don't you feel that we would be tampering with an
important era of history?
Nathuram: I differ with the word era. It could be a
page, a leaf of history.Certainly not an era. Nana, if we don't turn this page
today, the rest of the pages of the history of our nation will remain
unwritten, blank...
Nana: Listen, Pandit...
Nathuram: Time is eternal, indestructible. You can turn
its pages but never,never tear them out. Gandhi has acquired some position
in history which nobody can deny, not even Nathuram. The page will be
there forever in fact. Sometime in the future, in some storm, the pages
will flutter and there will be that same Gandhi's page before the world. I
don't refute Gandhi's theory of non-violence. He may be a saint but he is not
a politician. His theory of non-violence denies self-defence and
self-interest. The non-violence that defines the fight for survival as
violence is a theory not of non-violence but of self-destruction.
Nana: I do agree with you Pandit, but don't you think
that your decision is risky, dangerous?
Nathuram: But somebody has to do it! You can't afford
to wait for somebody else to do it. It will be improper.
Nana: If we picket severely?
Nathuram: We have been doing it. Did it help? The
division of the nation was an unnecessary decision. What was the percentage of
the Muslim population as compared to the population of the nation?
There was no need for a separate nation. Had it been a just demand,
Maulana Azad would not have stayed back in India. But because Jinnah insisted
and because Gandhi took his side, India was divided, in spite of
opposition from the nation, the Cabinet. An individual is never greater than a nation,
Nana. But Gandhi has stared considering himself greater than the nation.
Nana: Jinnah wanted to be the prime minister...
Nathuram: But we never opposed a Muslim prime minister.
In a democracy you cannot put forward your demands at today...
Nana: They are also equally responsible.
Nathuram: Of course, they are responsible! Gandhi
blackmailed them with
his fast unto death. His body, his threats to die are
causing the destruction --
geographical as well as economical -- of the nation.
Today, Muslims have
taken a part of the nation, tomorrow Sikhs may ask for
Punjab. The
religions are again dividend into castes, they will
demand sub-divisions of the
divisions. What remains of the concept of one nation,
national integration?
Why did we fight the British in unison for
independence? Why not
separately? Bhagat Singh did not ask only for an
independent Punjab or
Subhash Chandra Bose for an independent Bengal?
Nana: Pandit, if you will write this, people will get
agitated, the government
will get agitated, the government will have to bow
down.
Nathuram: I had written this before. At the time of
Partition, when Suharawady surrendered only due to political pressure,
but only Suharawady, not his followers...they went on with the
massacre. Gandhi started his fast, the Hindus put their weapons down. I
still remember that day. A poor Hindu told Gandhi, 'I am putting down my
weapons because I don't want your death on my conscience but I am staying
alone with my family in the Muslim area. That night, before leaving
Hyderabad I visited his home. The whole household was screaming, weeping, his
only eight-year-old son had been killed by the Muslims. He
had no weapon to defend himself. He threw his son's body on my lap and
said, "Take his blood to your Mahatma. Tell him, if he goes on fast
again, he can finish it by drinking not orange-juice but my son's blood." I could
not say anything. Gandhi was the Father of my Nation. For a moment, I was
tempted to pull out the Muslims from their homes and chop them down.
But I controlled myself. Violence for self-defence is justified,
otherwise it is an ill-cultured act. I returned to where Gandhi was staying but he had
already left by car.
Of course, there would have been no point in meeting
him... he would only have prayed for both the killer and the victim.
Nana: Pandit, I sincerely feel that we should seek the
advice of Tatyarao.
Nathuram: No. Because I am going to assassinate Gandhi
even if Tatyarao tells me not to. Then why involve him unnecessarily? I,
neither want Tatyarao's involvement nor participation. He has
suffered a lot for the nation. Now it is our turn. Tatyarao had once sad, if
Gandhi is a political saint, then he should follow in the footsteps of Ramdas
Swami. Ramdas Swami was always there to advise Shivaji whenever the
need arose, but he never interfered.
Nana: Pandit, if you are firm, then I promise you...
Nathuram: I want two promises ...
Nana: I promise!
Nathuram: You didn't ask me what promises?
Nana: A shadow has not to ask the body as to where it
is going and why it is going? A shadow has just to be with the body, that's
all. When I walk, you become my shadow Pandit, now you are walking... I
will be your shadow.
Nathuram: This is the first promise I want from you...
This time I walk alone...mind you, alone...
Nana: You have trapped me.
Nathuram: But you promised me..! I am going to
assassinate him in the open, before the public, because I am going to do it as
my duty. If I do it surreptitiously, it becomes a crime in my own eyes. I
will not try to escape, I will surrender and naturally I will be hanged.
Nana: Pandit!
Nathuram: One assassination, one hanging. I don't want
two executions for one assassination and I don't want your involvement,
participation or company.
Nana: Pandit, you want to end our friendship of so many years?
Nathuram: Of course not. At the time of hanging. I will
remember mymotherland, my parents and my friend -- you, Nana...
Nana: But if I won't be with you, won't you feel lonely
at the gallows?
Nathuram: You promised me.
Nana: What is the second promise?
Nathuram: Today I wrote two editorials. I have not put
any date on the second editorial as only God knows the date. I want you
to print the second editorial in Agrani, the day after Gandhi's assassination.
Nana: I promise you my friend. The first promise
accidentally but the second promise out of necessity.
(Nathuram is alone on the stage)
Nathuram: I was convinced that though Gandhi is called
the Father of the Nation, he delivers his paternal duties not towards
India but towards Pakistan. I came to the decision that as a son of the
soil, it was my first, foremost and divine duty to assassinate Gandhi.
On January 30, I reached Birla Bhavan at 12 pm. Gandhi
was sitting outside on a cot enjoying the sunshine. Vallabhbhai Patel's
granddaughter was sitting at his feet. I had the revolver with me. I could have
assassinated him easily then, but I was convinced that his assassination was to
be a punishment and a sentence against him, and I would execute him. I
wanted witnesses for the execution but there were none. I did not want to escape
after the execution as there was not an iota of guilt in my mind. I wanted
to surrender, but surrender to whom? There was a good crowd to collect
for the evening prayers. I decided on the evening of January 30 as the
date for Gandhi's execution.
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