Nathuram Godse Biography: Birthday, Early life, Career, Assassination, Death, Facts

Nathuram Godse Biography: Nathuram Vinayak Godse (19 May 1910 – 15 November 1949) was the man who murdered Mahatma Gandhi. On 30 January 1948, a Hindu nationalist from Maharashtra shot Gandhi three times in the torso at point-blank range during a multi-faith prayer meeting at Birla House in New Delhi.

Nathuram Godse Biography

Early Years

Nathuram Godse was born as Ramachandra Vinayak Godse on 19 May 1910 in Baramati, Pune district, Bombay Presidency, British Raj, now Maharashtra, India, to an orthodox Brahmin family. He was the fifth child of postal worker father Vinayak Vamanrao Godse and Lakshmi.
Before enrolling in an English-language school in Pune, where he was sent to reside with an aunt, he attended Baramati’s local school. However, he failed his high school entrance exam and pulled out of school.

Nathuram Godse Political Profession

Nathuram Godse, who was an ardent devotee of Mahatma Gandhi in school, fell under the influence of independence activist and Hindu nationalist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1929, when his family relocated to Ratnagiri.
In 1932, he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in Sangli as a ‘boudhik karyawah’ (ground labourer) after becoming a member of the Hindu Mahasabha, an extremist Hindu nationalist party led by Savarkar.
Together with Narayan Apte, he founded the Marathi-language publication ‘Agrani’ for the Hindu Mahasabha. Along with M. S. Golwalkar, he translated the book ‘Rashtra Mimansa’ by Babarao Savarkar into English, but they fell out after Golwalkar claimed credit for the translation.

On the day of Vijayadashami in 1942, he founded his own organisation, Hindu Rashtra Dal, but remained a member of the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha. He eventually distanced himself from the RSS because he believed that its posture on the formation of a separate nation-state with a Muslim majority, Pakistan, was softening.

Once a supporter of Gandhi’s efforts to eliminate the caste system and untouchability, he now considers Gandhi’s concept of nonviolence ineffective and blames him for appeasing Muslims, which led to the partition.

Following independence, when Gandhi threatened to go on hunger strike if the government withheld payment to Pakistan for aggression in Kashmir, he believed Gandhi’s ideals impeded the nation’s development.

Gandhi’s Assassination and Trial

Nathuram Godse approached Mahatma Gandhi on January 30, 1948, as he was strolling through the Birla House in New Delhi with his two grandnieces, Manuben and Abha, and bowed before him. After being informed that Gandhi was already late for the evening prayers, he shoved Manuben aside and shot Gandhi three times in the torso with a semi-automatic Beretta M1934 pistol.
Gandhi died a few moments later in his room in Birla House, while Godse either surrendered or was beaten by the swarming throng before being rescued by the police, according to conflicting reports. He admitted his guilt and was tried by the Punjab High Court in Peterhoff, Shimla.
The court sentenced him to death on November 8, 1949, prompting Gandhi’s two sons, Manilal and Ramdas, to petition for commutation, as it was contrary to their father’s beliefs. Godse was hanged at Ambala Jail on November 15, 1949, after Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel, and Governor-General Chakravarti Rajagopalachari denied his appeal.

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Death

In the aftermath of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse, the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS were held responsible for the conspiracy, and Brahmins in Maharashtra became targets of violence. The RSS was also temporarily banned, but the prohibition was lifted in 1949 after it was determined that the RSS had no connection to Godse, who they claimed had left the organisation in the 1930s.
In recent decades, numerous attempts have been made to glorify Godse’s actions by portraying him as a patriot in plays, novels, and documentaries, the majority of which have been banned.

Facts

• Nathuram Godse’s classmates would tease him as a child for dressing as a female, which would upset him, and he would seek solace from his mother.
• He was also rumoured to be a’simple’ man who never smoked or drank and was celibate.
• After dropping out of secondary school, Nathuram Godse joined the Hindu nationalist, paramilitary organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (R.S.S) and the political party Hindu Mahasabha.
• Godse became Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s secretary, and while working for him, he learned to read and write in English and how to give presentations. Godse and M. S. Golwalkar, who subsequently became the chief of the RSS, translated the book “Rashtra Mimansa” by Babarao Savarkar into English.