Godse bust unveiled in Gwalior, Cong erupts over plans to construct temple

Bhopal: Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha on Wednesday unveiled a life-size bust of Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse in its office in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and vowed to build a temple for him in the place.

The development has triggered an outrage in the state with Congress demanding to file sedition charges against the outfit.

The Mahasabha “laid the foundation for building the temple” for Godse on the occasion of his death anniversary on Wednesday.

“Nathuram Godse is a patriot. We have decided to build a temple for him in the Hindu Mahasabha Bhavan in the district headquarters town of Gwalior after the local administration turned down our demand for allocation of land in the area for the purpose. We unveiled Godse’s statue in the office on Wednesday to begin the process of building the temple for him”, the Mahasabha spokesman Dr Jagdish Bhardwaj said.

The right wing body constituted a committee to build the temple for the Mahatma killer.  

“Nathuram Godse had taken arms training for three days in Gwalior before shooting to death Mahatma Gandhi. Hence, Gwalior holds much significance for us. That is why we have decided to build the first temple for Nathuram Godse in Gwalior”, he said.

The development caused acute embarrassment to the state BJP government in the state. “I have sought a report from the local administration on it”, state home minister Bhupendra Singh said. CLP leader Ajey Singh however demanded to slap charges of sedition against the outfit for “laying foundation” to build a temple for Mahatma Gandhi’s killer.

Nathuram Vinayak Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi by pumping three bullets in his chest in New Delhi on January 30, 1948, was hanged to death on November 15, 1949.

Hindu Mahasabha had earlier strongly disapproved the move to initiate fresh probe into the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in the wake of Supreme Court appointing amicus curiae to look into documents pertaining to the matter after Mumbai-based petitioner Pankaj Phadnis claimed that Gandhiji was killed by the fourth bullet fired by an unidentified person who never came to light.

The Mahasabha has accused BJP and RSS of trying to rob the outfit of the legacy of Nathuram Gadse to marginalize it.