Hindu Mahasabha celebrates Nathuram Godse’s birth anniversary at its office in Gwalior

A handful of Mahasabha workers led by its national vice-president Jaiveer Bhardwaj celebrated Godse’s 111th birthday today.
Special puja was performed at the Mahasabha’s office in the memory of Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse.
Special puja was performed at the Mahasabha’s office in the memory of Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse.

BHOPAL: The right-wing saffron outfit Hindu Mahasabha (HM) celebrated the 111th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse at its office in Gwalior on Tuesday.

A handful of Mahasabha workers led by its national vice-president Jaiveer Bhardwaj celebrated Godse’s 111th birth anniversary by lighting 111 diyas (earthen lamps) around Godse’s picture at the HM’s office in Gwalior.

Special puja too was performed at the Mahasabha’s office in the memory of the right-winger who was hanged to death for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi on January 30, 1948.

“Not only did we perform the puja and celebrated Hutatma Nathuram Godse’s birth anniversary in our office, but our 3000 workers lit up similar diyas at their homes in Gwalior in the memory of the true patriot,” said HM vice president Jaiveer Bhardwaj.

“Not only did we follow social distancing while celebrating Nathuram Godse’s birth anniversary at our office, but our workers too followed social distancing to observe his birth anniversary at their homes. From Tuesday only we’ve started a drive to ensure that no migrant worker passing through Gwalior remains hungry. We distributed food grain and other essentials to migrant workers and needy people in Gwalior on Tuesday to mark Godse’s birth anniversary,” Bhardwaj said.

When contacted by The New Indian Express in the matter, the Gwalior district collector Kaushalendra Vikram Singh said, the district administration had no knowledge of any such celebrations. “Entire matter will be probed and case too would be registered against the organizers of the event,” the Gwalior district collector said.

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress condemned the celebration of the 111th birth anniversary of Nathuram Godse in Gwalior.

Former CM Kamal Nath tweeted, “At a time when all public functions and gatherings are banned during the lock-down, the celebration of Nathuram Godse’s birth anniversary in Gwalior is not only unfortunate, but also exposes the real mindset of Shivraj Singh Chouhan government and its failure to stop such events from happening.”

“During our government in MP, we had acted sternly against the organizers of such events. We’ll continue to oppose such celebrations on all public forums,” Nath mentioned in his tweet.

On November 15, 2019, the HM had observed Balidan Diwas at its Gwalior office to mark the 70th anniversary of the hanging of Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte in the Mahatma Gandhi assassination case.

The police at that time (Kamal Nath government was in power in MP) had arrested four HM workers in connection with distributing the pamphlets praising Godse and Apte in Gwalior.

Earlier, in 2017 (while the same Shivraj Singh Chouhan government was in power in MP), the HM had tried to establish a makeshift Hutatma Nathuram Godse temple by installing the statue of Gandhi’s assassin at its office in Gwalior. However, the police at that time seized the statue after removing it from the building.

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