Today, it is 64 years since Bapu was m­urdered. Those w­ho have read his biographies or have seen Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi will remember the scene well, where it seems as if Nathuram Godse was conveniently in the surroundings of Birla House in New Delhi that fateful evening armed with a gun and on finding an opportunity to get close to Bapu, he pulled it out and opportunistically fired on Bapu from point-blank range to murder him.

At 17 minutes past 5 pm on that fateful evening of January 30, 1948, Bapu breathed his last, hot lead lodged in his chest by his murderer and as he had wished, with the name of his God, Ram, on his lips. With the last few breaths left in him, Bapu chanted, “Ram, R...a...m, Ra.....m....”.

The world has by and large forgotten that this was a culmination of several attempts on Bapu’s life in which in some way or the other, Poona, and his eventual murderers, Nathuram Vinayak Godse and Narayan Apte, were involved.

The first documented attempt on Bapu’s life was on June 25, 1934, in Poona. The Poona Council decided to honour Bapu with a citation. The function was organised at Poona Municipal Hall. Bapu and his entourage arrived in two cars. The first car arrived a bit ahead of time. Everyone thought Bapu had arrived, the welcome band started playing when a grenade was hurled from the terrace. It bounced off the bonnet of the first car and exploded in the middle of the road just as the car carrying Bapu arrived. A few from the organising committee were injured. No one was arrested. Bapu was unhurt.

The second failed attempt took place in Panchgani in July 1944. Bapu was convalescing in Panchgani after his release from Aga Khan Palace. A gang of militant Savarkarites lead by Apte and Godse arrived and held abusive demonstrations aga­inst Bapu. One evening, D Bhillare Guruji of Satara and Manishankar Purohit, proprietor of the Surti Lodge of Poona, caught and disarmed a young man who was rushing towards Bapu hurling abuses and wielding a dagger. The young man was Godse. Bhillare Guruji is in his mid-90s and lives in his village near Panchgani. He recalls the events of that day in details.

The third failed attempt happened in Sevagram, Wardha, in September 1944. Bapu was preparing to leave for Bombay to begin talks with Mohammad Ali Jinnah to dissuade him from insisting on the partition of India. The RSS-Hindu Mahasabha combine swore to prevent this dialogue from taking place. They picketed Sevagram Ashram threatening to do whatever was required to stop Bapu from leaving to keep his appointment with Jinnah. Godse became abusive and violent and was detained when he attempted to rush towards Bapu wielding a dagger. Bapu was saved.

The fourth failed attempt happened when Bapu was travelling from Bombay to Poona on the night of June 29, 1946. The train ‘Gandhi Special’ met with an accident between Nerul and Karjat. The driver saw big boulders placed on the tracks to derail the train. He applied the emergency breaks. The engine failed to stop and its undercarriage was damaged by the impact with the boulders. The tracks were cleared and another engine brought to take the Gandhi Special to Poona. Once again, Bapu survived.

The final failed attempt took place on January 20, 1948, at Birla House. An armed gang reached Birla House in time for the evening prayers. As Bapu neared the end of his speech, Madanlal Pahwa, a young refugee from west Punjab, exploded a gun cotton bomb 40 feet away from where Bapu sat. This was the signal for Digambar Badge to shoot Bapu from the ventilator grill of the servant’s quarters in the backyard of Birla House, just nine feet behind where Bapu sat. Badge was to shoot Bapu and throw a hand gr­enade to ensure Bapu was ki­lled. Vishnu Karkare and Sh­ankar Kishtaiya were to throw hand grenades at Bapu from the front to ensure the killing and create chaos to enable their escape. Badge chickened out at the last minute and the plot failed. Pahwa was caught red-handed but the rest of the gang escaped.

Surprisingly, even though Pahwa had confessed about a widespread conspiracy to murder Gandhi and revealed the identities of the gang me­mbers involved and many other leads were given to the police both in Delhi and Mumbai, in the intervening 10 days, the police did nothing, allowing the gang members to regroup and raise funds. Godse and Apte travelled back to Delhi, went to Gwalior and acquired a Ber­retta 9-mm automatic with the help of another Sava­rkarite Parchure. They came back to Delhi on January 29 and met Vishnu Karkare. The three of them reached Birla House unmolested on the evening of January 30, 1948, and at 17 minutes past 5 pm, Godse shot Bapu thrice in the chest from point-blank range, “Ram, R...a...m, Ra....m.…”.

Sixty-four years of lies have dulled our collective memory. Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. This is to ensure truth isn’t forgotten.

(The writer is founder president, Mahatma Gandhi Foundation)

tushar.gandhi@mydigitalfc.com