The Week India — November 12, 2017

BY NIRMAL JOVIAL

Dr Phadnis says data from British

archives in 2012 indicates ambassadors

of East Germany, Poland, Hungary and

Czechoslovakia told Vijayalakshmi Pandit

that Mahatma Gandhi’s murder was

planned by the British. He alleges that

a British secret agency, Force 136, was

behind it.

There are no evidences to support these

claims. All the embassies in the world

had prepared condolence messages for

Bapu’s death, before he died. And on two

occasions the British feared that he was

near death. So, they even prepared for

his cremation in Aga Khan Palace. And

on those two occasions the British foreign offi ce had

sent out a format to all their high commissions all

over the world, instructing what should be released

as the obituary in case he died. S. Radhakrishnan,

who was then travelling in China, was shown this at

Shanghai.

So these people coming out with new theories have

taken these things and twisted them into out-of-

context allegations. Their basic point is to cre-

ate enough confusion about the murder so that

the spotlight shifts from Savarkar’s involvement

and the RSS’s involvement. That is their basic

objective and for that they are coming out with

all sorts of fantastic theories.

About the British secret agency Force 136’s

involvement they are alleging, if the

British wanted to kill Bapu, it would

have been easy for them to do it, before

independence. After independence, it

does not make any sense. The British

never went back to the colonies which

they surrendered to take revenge on

independence movement leaders.

There was no reason for them to seek

such vendetta, post-independence, to

kill Bapu.

Phadnis has picked all these things

that can be taken out of context and

then created a web around it. But if

somebody looks at each of them indi-

vidually, there is absolutely no link.

Phadnis says he has no connection

with the BJP or RSS.

Nobody ever has a connection with the RSS!

But whatever everybody does has some link or

benefi t to the RSS. Does the RSS have a mem-

bership log? Does the RSS issue identity cards

to its members? Is there a process of becoming

a member and then renewing the membership?

As a matter of fact, recently it was found that,

the RSS is not even a registered organisation.

So, how can anyone say that they are part or

not part of the RSS from a legal point of view?

The point is, there is a whole spectrum of that

ideology which are connected to each other

by ideology. And, they feed on each other and

strengthen each other.

Phadnis alleges that the Kapur Commission

report was incomplete. His petition seeks

the appointment of a new commission to re-

investigate.

The Kapur Commission report is the only thing

that established the clear-cut link between all

these organisations and murderers. And, that

is what hurts them the most. That is why they

wanted to discredit the report and get it per-

manently disposed of. And, that is why all these

fantastic theories are being propounded. I have

Interview/Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi

ALAMY

(^46) THE WEEK Š NOVEMBER 12, 2017
COVER STORY

There was no

fourth bullet

Palace

jail: The

Aga Khan

Palace

where

Gandhi

was

interned

for about

two years