Rediff

Reshimbagh, Jun 30: The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on January 30, 1948 by Nathuram Godse was not justifiable at all according to Rashtriya Swayayamsewak Sangh (RSS) ideologue and its former spokesman M G alias Baburao Vaidya said.

"You cannot kill someone's ideology by just killing himself," Vaidya said, adding his misdeed of killing Gandhiji can neither be justified nor glorified," Vaidya, a former editor of a local Marathi newspaper expressed his views in Nagpur on Sunday evening while releasing an autobiography of a senior swayayamsewak at RSS Smruti Mandir in Reshimbagh.

Vaidya said that the attacks on RSS swayayamsewaks (RSS volunteers), in the wake of Gandhiji's killing in Nagpur were allegedly carried out by some Congress leaders and workers. He said such acts do not justify and one should control his anger to achieve greatness.

He said Godse killed Gandhiji out of anger. Godse, Vaidya said, did not consider the repercussions and chain of reactions after the assassination.

Vaidya said Godse, who probably thought to save Hindutva by killing Gandhiji, indeed pushed Hindutva far behind.

"You can not just suppress the thoughts and perceptions of a person by eliminating him. Godse was an activist of Hindu Mahasabha and what is the status of Hindu Mahasbha today," Vaidya posed a question.

Praising Gandhiji's leadership qualities, Vaidya said at that time the Congress was a thought-processing front.

He brought together leaders of various ideologies like Jaiprakash Narayan, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Maulana Abdul Kalam and Sardar Patel during the freedom struggle.

In the present era, Congressmen has virtually dumped his ideologies. Gandhij's dreams like Ramrajya, non-violence, swadeshi and swabhasha are missing today among Congressmen, he added.