New Delhi, Oct 25 (The Indian Express): Even as the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is trying to own up Mahatma Gandhi, the Malayalam mouthpiece of the RSS has suggested that Nathuram Godse, instead of assassinating Gandhi, should have targeted Jawaharlal Nehru as he was responsible for Partition and never had any genuine attachment with the Father of the Nation.

“Nehru’s selfish politics was behind all national tragedies, including Partition and Gandhi’s assassination. After an honest evaluation of Nathuram Godse’s arguments and historical documents related to Partition, if history students feel Godse aimed the wrong target, they cannot be blamed. Nehru was solely responsible for Partition of the country,” says an article written by B Gopalakrishnan who was the BJP candidate in Chalakudy in the recent Lok Sabha election. It appeared in Kesari’s latest issue.

Gopalakrishnan, who argued in a two-part series that the RSS had nothing to do with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and it was Nehru’s idea to put the blame on the Hindu organisation, went on to say: “Nehru, whose ambition was to become a world leader, was closer to (Winston) Churchill, (Franklin D) Roosevelt and Chiang Kai-shek than he was to Gandhi.”

Speaking to The Indian Express, Gopalakrishnan, said through his articles he was trying to expose the “wrong facts” given in the history, which according to him, was written by the British.

“Nehru was always a selfish man and a hypocrite. He did not want anyone above him in the Congress. But Gandhiji’s popularity and his influence had made him jealous of Gandhi. Nehru was never a disciple of Gandhi,” he said. According to Gopalakrishnan, Nehru was the favourite of the British and the history was written in such a way that he was glorified. “It’s time to rewrite this history and demolish some false idols. We will approach the government to rewrite the history and expose them,” Gopalakrishnan, an office-bearer of the state BJP, said.

In the article, the author said ahead of Partition — which was a decision taken by the British and Nehru was aware of it in 1942 itself — Nehru had kept Gandhi out of discussions on India’s independence. “What Nehru wanted was Gandhiji’s cap and his khadi clothes. Nehru and his family had snatched his attires. Godse was much better than Nehru — he pulled the trigger on Gandhiji’s chest after a respectful bow. But Nehru stabbed him from behind and greeted him from front,” the article said.

The article claimed that Godse was not an RSS member, but a follower of the radical Savarkar group of the Hindu Mahasabha. By falsely blaming the RSS, Nehru had killed “two birds with one stone” — prevented Saradar Patel from becoming a leader above him and managed to ban the RSS through Patel. He has pointed out that post-Gandhi assassination, Nehru had managed to get leaders like Mridula Sinha to demand Patel’s resignation as the home minister.

With the Congress unit in Kerala protesting against the article, Gopalakrishnan said the opposition party is “scared” that the truths will come out. “Now that the RSS is coming to mainstream and Prime Minister Modi successfully adopting Gandhi for Swachh Bharat campaign, Congress fears that its leaders will be exposed.”

The author has also taken a swipe at the Communists also. “The Communists who stabbed Gandhiji from behind during the Quit India movement, had made fun of Gandhi calling him a false god from Wardha… while the Communists worship Lenin, Stalin and Russia as holy trinity, for the RSS, Bharat is the holy mother…”