PTI

Chennai, Feb 7: Mahatma Gandhi neither uttered the widely believed "hey Ram" nor the recently claimed "Ram... Ram" after he was shot from close range by Nathuram Godse, a former aide of the father of the nation claims.

The death also came as the final blow to an already "disillusioned Gandhi", 85-year-old Kalyanam Venkitaraman, Gandhiji's then personal assistant, says.

"I was standing hardly half-a-metre from him when (Nathuram) Godse pumped five bullets at Gandhi, with one piercing his body. He fell down immediately and never uttered a word," he said, recalling those tragic moments.

Ironically, the police did not inquire people, including him, who were nearby Gandhi when he was shot. "Somebody claimed he had heard Gandhi uttering Ram... Ram, which was filed in the FIR.. But the truth is that not one word was uttered. For, how can one do so when he is shot at from such a short range?" Venkitaraman, who worked with Gandhi from 1943 till his death in 1948, asked.

"He died a disheartened, disillusioned and disappointed man," Venkitaraman told PTI here. The communal clashes in the country had already saddened Bapu, leading to his death being filled with "disillusionment and disappointment", he said.

In a letter written four days before his death, Gandhi expressed his "disillusionment". meanwhile, a yet-to-be-published book-`Mahatma Gandhi: Brahmacharya Ke Prayog'- written by journalist Dayashanker Shukla, claims that Gandhi's grand-daughter Manu only heard him utter "hei ra...".

"Celebration of independence day with great pomp and show was quite appropriate when we were fighting for independence, which we had neither seen nor handled. Now, we have handled it and seem to be disillusioned. At least I am, even if you are not. "what are we celebrating today? surely, not our disillusionment," are the words written by Gandhi, which has been reproduced as a vinyl banner in Venkitaraman's house.

Though Godse was a member of the RSS, Venkitaraman does not prefer to brand the movement as "bad". "Not all RSS men are bad as one cannot generalise. Black sheep are found everywhere. In fact, V D Savarkar advised Godse against harming Gandhi," he said. An outspoken Gandhian, who calls himself a workaholic, Venkitaraman is very critical of the present political and administrative scenario in the country.

"The country has not developed in many important areas, including education. Gandhi led the independence struggle with a vision to develop the nation," he said, while ruing the fact that violence had become common in a country which had achieved independence through non-violence. He especially criticised the "huge allowances and perks", offered to elected members and said Gandhi had preached simplicity even for the elected members. "But for a few incidents of communal clashes, the nation was more peaceful during the British era," Venkitaraman said.