Godse, Nathuram

(1912–1948) Hindu nationalist figure
who is most famous as the assassin of
Mohandas Gandhi. Godse was a devoted
follower of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar,
whose articulation of Hindu nationalism equated Hindu identity and Indian
patriotism. Savarkar and his followers
saw the partition of India in 1947 as the
“vivisection” of Mother India, dividing
her into India and Pakistan. Like many
of Savarkar’s followers, Godse was
enraged by Gandhi’s post-partition
efforts to protect Indian Muslims and to
influence the Indian government’s policy
toward Pakistan, particularly his hunger
strike to force the Indian government to
transfer to Pakistan a large sum of
money that had been promised. Filled
with the conviction that Gandhi had to
be stopped, Godse intercepted Gandhi
on the way to a prayer meeting, touched
his feet as a sign of respect, and then
shot him three times. Godse was tried
and executed for his action and is sometimes cited as a martyr by the most
ardent contemporary nationalists.
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Godse, Nathuram