Pragya Thakur has declared Godse a great Desh Bhakt. She gave expression to the feeling that Sanghi and Hindu Maha Sabhaits harbour in their hearts. They share Godse’s view expressed in his published booklet Why I killed Gandhi. In the booklet, he explains why it was necessary to kill him in the interest of Hindus and India. It is not my purpose to refute him. My purpose is to ask whether we, as a nation and society, accept that we should kill people who are an impediment to (in our view) a lofty goal we may be striving to achieve. The unarticulated answer of the Hundutvawadis, including Modi, is YES. How else was Pragya Thakur set free and given a ticket to contest the election on a BJP ticket?
But if it was laudable to kill Gandhi because he was an impediment to the goal of the Hindutva wadis, how does the killing of anybody else who is an impediment to someone else’s lofty goal become condemnable?
The Maoists are fighting, killing and dying for a goal they consider lofty. Should they be lauded for their violence because their violence is in pursuit of their lofty goal?
The terrorists, too, are fighting for a goal they consider lofty. The suicide bombers present an example of Supreme Sacrifice. Should they be worshipped for their self sacrifice as Godse is being worshipped? Will Modi allow them to circulate a book justifying terrorism?
Maoists have a rich literature not to justify their acts of violence but about their lofty goal; but it is banned. Anyone in their possession is shut in a prison. If Godse’s booklet justifying Gandhi’s murder is allowed free circulation, all others should be allowed the same freedom.
We condemn Godse not for his poisonous thoughts and beastly character, but for using murder as a tool of politics. We condemn terrorism for the same reason, especially, the killing of the unconcerned innocents. We disapprove of violence as a means to achieve political end*
But fascists inherently have a double standard: one for themselves and another for the rest. To them, killing, raping, rioting are legitimate acts if they are themselves the perpetrators, but heinous crimes if the perpetrators are others. They are bereft of humanity and morality and difficult to fight if they succeed in infecting the people. To fight fascism all out efforts are required to save the people from their dehumanizing ideology and inculcate humane values in the society.
- We disapprove of violence as a means of achieving political end in the context of our own country and not the entire world of which we have little knowledge.
Prabhakar Sinha
1.We do not approve of banning books including Godse’s.
2.We disapprove of political murders either of Gandhi or of Godse’s God Father and patrons.
About Prof. Prabhakar Sinha
Hailing from Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Prof. Sinha had a PG Degree in English and Ph.D. in Linguistics from Poona University (1967) studying the grammar of Lepcha language of Sikkim in relation to Bengali, Santhali, Hindi and Vajjika. He retired as Professor of English from RDS College, Muzaffarpur under Bihar University.
Right from his school days in the 1950’s he was involved with the democratic movements of students and suffered fracture and other injuries when police lathi charged agitating students in Patna. He played a leading role in agitation for a judicial enquiry into the police firing on the students of Patna university and later on represented the students in the judicial enquiry headed by the Chief Justice of Patna High court .
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