1948- In the history of India

The newly born Republic of India was months old when it entered 1948, a rather eventful year in the history of India. After 200 years of slavery, India was sovereign and ready to proclaim its existence in the globe.  In was in this momentous year when India confronted the aggressors from Pakistan in the first Kashmir War. The princely states of Junagadh and Hyderabad joined the Dominion of India which earlier insisted on being independent or joined the dominion of Pakistan. While these events mattered much, the biggest event to take place in 1948 was the assassination of the declared father of the nation and the man behind Indian Independence, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

Assassination of Gandhi

Assassination of Gandhi on 30^th January, 1948 was the biggest event of 1948 and a poignant event in the history of India. Mahatma Gandhi was shot at a point- blank range from a .38 Beretta semi-automatic pistol when he was standing on the steps of a building going for a prayer. The chief- assassin of Mahatma Gandhi was Nathuram Narayan Godse, a pre-eminent hindu nationalist form Pune. It was a planned murder, for there were previous attempts to kill Gandhi conspired by Godse. The main line dividing Gandhi and Godse were Gandhi’s principles of non-violence. While Godse and his companions were against partition of India even at the cost of blood-shed, Gandhi desired non- violence over anything else. There were 4 previous attempts to kill Gandhi, with Godse involved in three of them. In the first attempt of 25^th June, 1934 the chief conspirator remains anonymous.

In the events that followed, three convicts were tried and some of them executed. Vinayak Damodar Sarvarkar- an Indian Freedom fighter and revolutionary was also arrested but later released due to lack of evidences. Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte (a hindu activist and entrepreneur; the second conspirator) were sentenced to death while Gopal Godse (brother of Narayan Godse) was sentenced to life imprisonment. Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and the sons of Gandhiji insisted on overruling the death sentence of Godse and Apte as the man whom they killed was against violence in any form but the verdict did not change. Violence followed in Pune (hometown of Godse) and the rest parts of India. The violence took anti- Brahmin form as most of the conspirators were Maharastrian Brahmins. Rastriya Swayamseva Sangh (RSS) a pro hindu party was banned as the main conspirators were believed to belong to the same party.

 The aftermath of the conspiracy says that the assassination of Gandhi was none but a clash of ideals of two people of different beliefs. Gandhi, a non- violent leader was killed by Godse who clearly was an apostle of violence believing blood as the ultimate conclusion.

This was the first year of Independent India, the year when the moral fiber of Indian Independence left for heavens. The years that followed was the first year of India without their Bapu.