Tushar Gandhi,
January 29, 2025
Ramchandra Vinayak Godse, the hitman who murdered Mohandas Gandhi, or Bapu as I call him, was a complicated and troubled person, one who could be easily manipulated. He was born on May 19, 1910, in Uksan, a tiny village near Kamshet, in a Chitpavan Brahmin family after three sons born to his parents before him died at birth or in their early infancy. Only a girl survived. His parents feared a curse and consulted a tantrik, who advised them to appease their family goddess and cheat fate by bringing up their next male child as a daughter.
When a son was born, they had his nostril pierced and he was made to wear a nath, a nose ring, as was the practice for a girl child. The boy was brought up as a girl. His hair wasn’t cut and he was dressed up in girls’ clothes – a traditional ghaghra (long skirt) and choli (blouse). His mother combed his long hair and plaited it.
This exposed young Ramchandra to severe teasing. Soon, he began to be known as ‘Nathuram’ or ‘Nathya’, one who wears a nose ring. When three sons born after him survived, the family felt that the curse had been lifted and it was only then that his long tresses were trimmed, he was allowed to take off the nath and wear boys’ clothing. But the pierced nostril was permanent and so the teasing and trauma continued for young Nathuram.
His father, Vinayak, was a very junior clerk in the postal department and posted in remote places for long durations. So, during Nathuram’s formative years, his father was absent. He craved a father figure who would protect him from the bullies, but there was never one around.
Postal clerks earned a meagre salary, so the family was impoverished and this amplified Nathuram’s insecurity. So, adversity and trauma resulted in Nathuram growing up with a feeling of resentment, turning him into a moody loner. This became another excuse to brand him an odd one.
All his life, Nathuram searched for a strong male – someone who would be everything he was not.
He was a weak student too and could not pass his matric exam, which meant he could not land a job in the postal department when his father retired. This disappointed his father and filled him with anxiety as to who would provide for the large family.
Nathuram learned carpentry but failed to get work. He then learned how to stitch ladies’ clothes and and sold fruits to augment his income.
In his late teens, he was attracted to the Freedom Movement spearheaded by Gandhi and, like others, came under his spell. But Nathuram felt that Gandhi’s practice of Ahimsa wasn’t aggressive enough and that his movement lacked the heroic machismo he was seeking. Disillusioned, he moved on.
Crossing paths with Savarkar
Meanwhile, his father decided to relocate to Ratnagiri and it was there that Nathuram finally found a patriarch to cherish and worship – VD Savarkar.
After many apologies, pleas for clemency and promises of eternal obedience to the British, Savarkar had been released from the Cellular Jail in the Andamans and placed under house arrest in Ratnagiri. Savarkar negotiated a pension to sustain him, promising the Crown to never indulge in treachery against the ‘Lord Emperor’.
Savarkar was born on May 28, 1883, to Chitpavan Brahmin parents Damodar and Radhabai in Bhagur village near Nashik. He was a clever child, displaying leadership qualities and a scholarly mastery over Marathi. He wrote passionately and could stir up passions with his oratory.
Like everywhere, there was a Muslim population in Bhagur and ever-present tensions between communities. Savarkar became known as the leader of Hindu boys who attacked lone Muslims and attempted to desecrate mosques.
After completing school, Savarkar joined the prestigious Ferguson College in Pune, where he became known for his fiery speeches and revolutionary writings against the British. This led to him being suspended and then expelled from the college but his fire was noticed and he was sponsored by Shyamji Krishnaverma and Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak to receive higher education in London.
Savarkar enrolled in Grey’s Inn and studied to become a barrister. Here, he met Russian anarchists, learning bomb-making and the use of firearms from them. He also began to gather impressionable young men around him and began preaching revolution. He sent handguns to his brothers in India.
Savarkar even inspired young men to murder British officials in India and in London.
Savarkar patronised India House established by Krishnaverma and held many of his meetings there. Madan Lal Dhingra was a regular and soon became a confidante of Savarkar’s. Inspired by him, Dhingra shot a senior official from the Colonial Department, Lord William Hutt Curzon Wyllie.
Savarkar had a grand idea of himself and bestowed on himself the title ‘Veer’, which was accepted enthusiastically by his followers. Later, ironically after his meek capitulation to the British, his followers added ‘Svatantrya’ to the ‘Veer’. Today, his name Vinayak has almost been forgotten and people call him ‘Svatantrya Veer’.
In Ratnagiri, Nathuram began to visit Savarkar and listen to his diatribes against Muslims and his anger at Gandhi and the Congress.
A ‘throne’ usurped
Savarkar grew up eulogising and worshipping the Peshwas, the only empire in India presided over by Brahmins of his own caste. After the British vanquished the Peshwas and established the Raj, many Maharashtrian Brahmins believed that when the British left they would hand over the reins of independent India to the Brahmin descendants of the Peshwas.
For a time, Brahmins headed both factions of the Congress: Gopal Krishna Gokhale led the doves (Maval) and Tilak the hawks (Jahal). The Brahmins of Maharashtra thus had visions of future glory when one among them would rule India, a Hindu Rashtra, again. After Gokhale and Tilak passed away fairly early, Savarkar decided it would be him. Unfortunately, the coronation never happened. An upstart returning from South Africa, Gandhi, ‘usurped’ what Savarkar had imagined was his rightful ‘throne’. Gandhi soon became undisputed leader of the Freedom Movement and Savarkar was consigned to the sidelines.
This made Savarkar extremely bitter and filled with hatred against Gandhi. He formed the Ratnagiri Hindu Sabha, which later merged with the Hindu Mahasabha. It was here that Savarkar propounded his idea of Hindutva, the upper-caste radical dominance ideology. Nathuram, having found his macho patriarch, came under Savarkar’s thrall. He imbibed Savarkar’s radical ideals and started imitating his mentor’s oratory.
It was also then that Nathuram met Narayan Apte, another Chitpavan Brahmin from Pune. Apte too was a fanatic follower of Savarkar’s. He was dashing, brash and an extroverted Casanova – everything Nathuram aspired to be but wasn’t. Soon, Nathuram formed a strong bond with him. In this relationship, too, Nathuram chose the subservient role.
On January 20, 1948, the gang led by Apte and Godse attempted but failed to murder Bapu. That night, while escaping from Delhi, Nathuram for the first time took a leadership role and informed Apte that he would fulfil the promise to kill Gandhi himself. Apte realised that the baton had passed and decided to assist Nathuram.
This, then, is the background of the main accused in the Gandhi murder.
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Savarkar had throughout his life egged on several youths to commit violence. Nathuram, meanwhile, had always been a follower who all his life looked for a strong father figure. Having found that in Savarkar, he was ready to do whatever his master wanted.
Savarkar craved the mantle of supreme leader and legend. He created the latter with his mastery over literature and was filled with rage because another, someone lower in the caste hierarchy, had banished him to oblivion. Savarkar had a pathological hatred and jealousy of Gandhi. He wanted to get his own back.
Nathuram, Apte and Vishnu Karkare – another accused in the murder – were radicalised followers of Savarkar. And Gandhi was the target of their master’s wrath.
This article is based on the research I did while writing my book ‘Let’s Kill Gandhi!’ And what I gleaned from other writers who wrote on the principal characters and their deeds.
Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of the Mahatma, is an activist, author and president of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation. Reach him here: gandhitushar.a@gmail.com.
