Peeps You Should (maybe) Know of the Day: Nathuram Godse

Posted by blainegarrett on Dec 14th, 2007 | 0 comments

Ghandi is one of the most revered characters in history for his now immortalized plights against the British’s occupation of India. Without knowing a lot about Ghandi, I would otherwise assume that he was assassinated by a British aligned shooter – perhaps a political puppet trying to help maintain the crumbling British Empire or a businessmen that made his fortuned by being supported by the British.

But, no. I’m sure many on the side of the British wanted to see Ghandi killed, but it was not the British that led to his untimely death – it was fellow Indians also fighting for a stronger and independent India. The gunman, Nathuram Godse, was once a huge supporter of Ghandi. However, Ghandi’s love for all peoples of India included unsavory characters of the lower caste (including Muslims). This support led to Hindi radicals to plotting to get rid of Ghandi, and that they did. For the most part, it seems that Godse and his supporters were angry about the creation and continued support of Pakistan. In a 2000 TIME interview with Nathuram’s brother, Gopal, said “[Ghandi's] Principal of Peace was bogus”. Since Godse’s day, the organization he was part of, the RSS,has been accused of religious rioting, bigotry, and violence towards other groups. Hmm, seems like there isn’t a lot of good to come out of this situation period…

I think the interesting thing here is the case of what and how history chooses to remember events. Also, it is interesting to think about how people who die before their work is finished are remembered for not what they meant to do but for merely what they accomplished. Word.

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