Assassination+of+Mahatma+Gandhi+by+Nicole+Sharma



November 27, 2012 LAC 1000C-Indian

**__Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi__**  **__by Nicole Sharma__** Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was one of the most spiritual and political leaders of the 1900’s. “His death left all India stunned and bewildered as to the direction that this newly independent nation would take without its ‘Mahatma’ (Great Teacher),” written in The New York Times. With Mahatma Gandhi’s method of nonviolent resistance, he helped free India from British. In India, the people refer to Gandhi as the father of their nation. He was slight in build, but had limitless physical and moral strength. “Mahatma” is an honorary title and a term of reverence for the “great souled,” the Asian Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore bestowed it upon Gandhi in 1915.

Gandhi was the leader of India’s independence movement for several decades. As a part of Satyagraha, a Sanskrit term translated as “insistence upon truth,” he promoted civil disobedience in his campaigns and organized a strike among the Indian miners. He sought ought to better the lives of Indians through the means of frequent fasting and passive protesting. In the early 1920’s Mahatma Gandhi became the leader of the Indian Nationalist movement. After enduring conflicts such as the Amritsar Massacre, Gandhi became even more determined to develop Satyagraha and to gain independence through nonviolent resistance. The Amritsar Massacre was on April 13, 1919. Dyer, a temporary Brigadier-General put a ban on public assemblies. Thousands of people unaware of Dyer’s recent ban, gathered at Jallianwala Bagh. Dyer’s troops surrounded the people and without warning began to fire, several hundred were killed, including women and children, and over a thousand were wounded. Dyer said he ordered the attack for its “moral effect” and ordered his troops to continue firing until all the bullets were finished.

After India’s independence in 1947, India and Pakistan were split into two territories and this saddened Gandhi. When India and Pakistan were divided, violent riots began between the Hindus and Muslims. Even then, Mahatma Gandhi continued to preach non-violence. Many Hindu nationalists resented this because they felt that Hindus needed to protect themselves from Muslims attacks. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated; he was shot and killed. But the question of why cannot be answered with certainty, as different types of media give many different reasons; there are many misconceptions. According to the movie, “Gandhi”, on January 30, 1948, the day Mahatma Gandhi died, he left his house and started walking to his prayer meeting at the lawn of Birla House. As usual, two of his grand-nieces held him up and helped him walk through the people. There was a crowd of people following him and few were standing alongside the road to greet him; some just folded their hands as he approached and some tried to touch his feet. Dressed in pants and a button down shirt, a medium built man, Nathuram Godse, tried to touch Gandhi’s feet. One of Gandhi’s grand-niece told the man to stop because Gandhi was already late for his prayer meeting. Nathuram Godse, just a few feet away from Gandhi, stepped back and with anger on his face, took out a gun from his pocket and shot Gandhi three times. Gandhi, with a surprised look in his eyes, put his hands on his stomach, on one of his wounds, and said “oh my God, oh my God” and then collapsed to the ground.

The movie shows that Nathuram Godse shot Mahatma Gandhi. However, the movie gives you the impression that Nathuram was not the only one involved in the death of Mahatma Gandhi. When Nathuram Godse started walking towards where Gandhi was, you see an old man with a white beard sitting in a small buggy. The old man and Nathuram Godse looked at each other and then the old man nodded at Nathuram Godse as if reaffirming Nathuram that he was doing the right thing.

This movie showed a lot of riots taking place between the Hindus and Muslims all over India and Pakistan before and after they gained their Independence. Hindus and Muslims were brutally killing each other, looting, burning cars, and homes. They didn’t even spare women and children. The police could not take control of these situations. A lot of people were unhappy of the division of India and Pakistan including Mahatma Gandhi but some blamed Gandhi for the division.

In the movie, Mr. Jinnah, who was a member of Congress and the leader of the Muslim League invited Mahatma Gandhi as a guest speaker at the Congress Party Convention. In this convention the old man and Nathram Godse were also spotted, with discomfort on their face as Gandhi was speaking, they looked at each other and communicated. So at the end of the movie when you see the same two men you get the impression that it was a pre-mediated murder, that more people were involved in the crime and that it was planned weeks if not months ahead.

When the movie ended, I was left with a question, why did Nathuram Godse kill Mahatma Gandhi. It was hard for me to speculate or pin point a specific reason as to why he would want to kill Gandhi. However, it was clear that the old man, Nathuram, and whoever else was involved, were either angry with the division of India and Pakistan; or it could have been that they were a group of Hindu extremists and did not like Muslims because Mahatma Gandhi was known to be more lenient to Muslims than Jinnah was known to be to the Hindus. As per various newspapers, the group of Hindu extremists, and specifically Nathuram Godse said that Gondhi was a “political and ethical impostor”, and the “curse of India, a force of evil”. Nathuram Godse tried to rationalize his wrong doing because he was against Gandhi’s belief that Muslims and Hindus should be united and that there should be an end to the caste system. Although Nathuram Godse without a doubt committed a heinous act, unfortunately, there were, many other people that shared the same ideas as Nathuram Godse.

As stated in various articles in prominent newspapers, Gandhi’s effort to achieve compromise between the Hindus and Muslims is what eventually caused his death. On January 13th, 1948, at the age of seventy-eight, Gandhi began his last fast. His purpose was to end the bloodshed among the Hindus, Muslims, and other groups. He went on a hunger strike claiming that he would not eat until the violence was put to an end and India gave back the 550 million rupees that it was holding from Pakistan. Five days later, on January 18th, Gandhi broke his fast because leaders pledged to stop. While on his way to a prayer meeting in New Delhi on January 30th, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a fellow Hindu, who felt that Gandhi had betrayed the Hindu cause and triggered the partition of India. All those engaged in the crime were arrested and tried in a trial, which attracted media awareness and numerous paparazzi. Nathuram Godse and his accomplice, Narayan Apte, were sentenced to death by hanging. There were many different media sources that spoke about the death of Mahatma Gandhi, which had their respectable and unscrupulous effects.

A shocked India and a saddened world mourned Gandhi’s death. The All-India Radio, announced news of the tragedy at six o’clock and a grand crowd gathered at Birla House, where he was headed to before his death. Mahatma Gandhi’s devotion to truth and nonviolence influenced great leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela. When the great scientist Albert Einstein spoke of Gandhi he said: “Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.” Gandhi’s beliefs continue to be studied and analyzed today. Mahatma Gandhi’s death is said to be the most tragic assassination in history.

**__References:__**
 * The movie “Gandhi”
 * "Assassination of Mr Gandhi." //TheGuardian// [UK] 31 Jan. 1948: n. pag. 30 Oct. 2002. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. .
 * Sheean, Vincent. "The Assassination of Gandhi, 1948." //The Assassination of Gandhi, 1948//(2005): n. pag. //Eye Witness to History//. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. .
 * The Learning Network. "Mahatma Gandhi Assassinated." //The New York Times// 27 Nov. 2012: n. pag. 30 Jan. 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. .
 * "The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi." //BBC News//. BBC, 29 Jan. 1998. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. .