An attempt to
rewrite history
BY NIRMAL JOVIAL
What is the real intention behind Phadnis’s
petition? Is it a move to twist the truth?
Yes, most certainly. The RSS thought the
assassination of Gandhiji would obliterate
his memory, but seemingly from the grave
he continues to haunt his detractors. The
RSS is struggling with this at various levels.
In the west, they have started a vilifi cation
campaign by pulling out of context the word
“kafi r” when referring to black Africans in
South Africa to paint him as a racist; and the
experiment with brahmacharya to depict
him as a womaniser. What they don’t want
people to know is that Gandhiji was not a
Mahatma from birth. He became a Ma-
hatma by transforming his weaknesses to
strengths. Even then, he was not happy being referred
to as Mahatma because to the end he believed he was
not perfect, that he still had a long way to go. This PIL
is just another attempt to rewrite history.
At least one must admit that Nathuram had the cour-
age of his convictions. He never denied what he did.
Do you think Savarkar had an active role in the
murder plot?
Of course he played a signifi cant part in plan-
ning and encouraging the assassination. Sa-
varkar was always a more radical and militant
person. He is responsible for the hate and preju-
dice that the RSS stood for and practised. The
only reason he was let off by the Kapur Com-
mission was that there was no tangible evidence
linking him to the actual assassination. But he
planted the idea, encouraged its growth. If a fa-
ther brings up a child to be a murder-
er, the law will not punish the father
but the son, because he committed the
actual act. But morally, the father is as
guilty as son.
Phadnis alleges foreign hands behind
the murder.
This has been a popular pastime with
all politicians. Ever since the 50s
when I was a journalist at The Times
of India everything that was wrong in
India was blamed on the CIA or the
Russian spy agency. It still persists.
The Supreme Court has appointed
an amicus curiae to check whether a
new commission should be appointed
to inquire into the Gandhi murder
plot. What do you think the outcome of this
would be?
I hope the Supreme Court realises that there are
much more important and long-standing issues
that need their attention. Getting involved in
such blatantly frivolous and nonsensical litiga-
tion is diverting their attention from other mat-
ters of importance. ◆no objection to investigations being done again if the
truth is going to be revealed. But, what is going to be
re-investigated? The evidence that was checked at
the time of the murder and before the trial, and again
at the Kapur Commission report—only these exist.
There are no witnesses, there are no new accusations,
there is no new proof. So, what are they going to in-
vestigate? The documents that were already investi-
gated by the Kapur Commission? So, the objective is
to say that the Kapur Commission had all these evi-
dences and yet, purposely or by mistake, it arrived at
the wrong conclusion.
Phadnis claims there was a fourth bullet.
There was no fourth bullet. There was no fourth entry
wound in Bapu’s body. There were only three
entry wounds and two exit wounds. And yet,
one of the three bullets is being magically repro-
duced to become the fourth.
What would happen if a new commission is
appointed?
The motivation is to discredit all the investiga-
tions done until now. If a commission or com-
mittee is appointed, they will be forced to listen
to these kind of fantastic theories. And these
will be presented as evidences which were al-
ways there, but ignored for political reasons. So
it will open that window for creating complete
confusion about the murder. ◆Interview/Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi
THE WEEK NOVEMBER 12, 2017^47