ple. Reiner returned to the embassy after the second
telegram was sent. He gave a debriefi ng. That account
was sent to the secretary of state later in the evening. I
have not got that account. I asked for it, the third tele-
gram. They said it is classifi ed. I fi led an appeal. I spoke
to them over the phone about it last time I was there.
They said it concerned the US national security inter-
ests. My question is, what does it have to do with the
US national security? One Indian was killed by another
Indian and it happened in India. How is US national
security involved? Reiner seems to be some kind of US
intelligence offi cer. Some 60,000 dollars were sent to
him in May 1947. This is too much of a coincidence.
You have mentioned journalist Vincent Sheean’s
words.
I have made an open appeal to Gandhi Smriti manage-
ment: You are the people who put up that panel about
“four dull dark explosions” [which Sheean wrote
about]. It is right there outside the bedroom. So if it is
untrue, tear it down or join me in the petition.
Do you dislike Gandhi?
No, no. I am critical of many of his policies. But I have
written in my book that I consider Gandhi like my
grandfather with whom I have differences.
Do you think Gandhi was right in insisting that
Pakistan should be paid
0 55 crore?
He was 100 per cent right.
It is nothing but fi nancial
ignorance to suggest that
we could have held on to
those 0 55 crore. That was
their share.
Godse admitted that he
fi red the shots. There were
400 people present. How
come no one other than
Vincent Sheean heard this
fourth shot?
K.C. Roy [of Reuters] heard
four shots. Two other re-
porters have reported like-
wise. There is a photo in
The Hindu, published on
January 31, 1948, where
you can see four wounds.
It’s a government photo-
graph, PIB MG 2626.
Godse and Apte met
Savarkar before they
killed Gandhi.
Sir, it was prosecution
claim, and prosecution
failed to establish this.Do you say Savarkar was not involved at all?
I have no reason to believe that he was involved.
In the National Archives I discovered another
interesting telegram. The US consul general
Howard Donovan, based in Mumbai, had a meet-
ing with the prosecution counsel C.K. Daphtary,
sometime in 1948. Dapthary told Donovan that
he had no evidence against Savarkar. He doesn’t
know why his name has been included.
How many times are you going to condemn
Savarkar? I read your magazine’s story on
Savarkar [THE WEEK, January 24, 2016]. You
have the right to criticise Savarkar. But let that
be purely factual. Savarkar himself has written
about his apology in his book. He has said it was
a tactic. He did not leak any names of freedom
fighters. So that apology has no meaning.
All legislators and ministers in the govern-
ments before independence had taken oaths
declaring allegiance to the British Crown. This
despite the fact that Quit India movement was
launched in 1942 and Karenge Ya Marenge was
the call. But, there is not a single word of criti-
cism about this. Only three persons never took
the oath—Netaji Bose, Gandhi and Savarkar.One Indian
was killed
by another
Indian and it
happened in
India. How is
US national
security
involved?
Father
figures:
Mahatma
Gandhi and
Muhammad
Ali JinnahAP(^38) THE WEEK NOVEMBER 12, 2017
COVER STORY