BRAHMINS COMMUNITY KILLED GANDHIJI

The Brahmin community was behind several bids on Mahatma Gandhi's life as it wanted to make India a Hindu nation, the great-grandson of the father of the nation claimed today. "I want to condemn the theory of the Sangh Parivar that Gandhi was killed because he was responsible for the vivisection of the motherland and because he forced the Indian government to give Pakistan Rs 55 crore," Tushar A Gandhi said at an event where his book "Let's Kill Gandhi" was launched here.

"These are all excuses which are not true ... and the Brahmin community, which wanted to make India a Hindu nation, were behind all the attempts and the murder of the father of the nation," he said. "Gandhi's killing was not an assassination. It was a premeditated murder. Gandhi was targeted by Brahmins who wanted India should become a Hindu nation and they would remain a dominant community.

"Before he was eventually murdered (on January 30, 1948), there were several attempts on his life and Poona was linked to all the attempts on his life," he said after the book was launched by noted journalist M J Akbar.

Presenting facts, Tushar said the first attempt on the Mahatma's life was made at Poona, now Pune, in 1935 when a grenade was hurled at him during a Harijan yatra, but Gandhi escaped the attempt. Other bids on his life were made at Panchgani and Wardha in Maharashtra.

"Narayan Apte, Nathuram Godse and their gang of extremists were involved in the three attempts. Worse, there were a lot of lapses in arrangements made to protect Gandhi," Tushar said. The book presents an analysis of events from 1944 to 1949. Tushar started working four years ago on the book, which was written on the basis of archival records, records of the Mahatma's murder trial and investigation and verbal history.

"The attempts on the Mahatma's life were intended to kill his legacy and subvert his philosophy," he said. Tushar said the Kapoor Commission, which was constituted in 1968 to investigate the larger conspiracy behind the killing of Gandhi, came out with many "startling" revelations.

He claimed the feeling of "hatred" between Hindus and Muslims still persists in the country and the government needed to take steps for a harmonious relation between both communities. "Hindus and Muslims are still a divided lot. If steps are not taken, the country will be fragmented," he said.

Akbar said Gandhi had given freedom to the country by empowering the poor and involving them in the freedom movement and political process.

Nativist D.D.Raut, President, Native People's Party

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