Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said that the real ‘Hindutvavadi’ would have shot Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah and not Mahatma Gandhi. Raut was responding to a tweet by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in which he said a Hindutvavadi shot Mahatma Gandhi dead but “Bapu is still alive where the truth prevails today.”
Nathuram Godse, a member of Hindu Mahasabha, assassinated Mahatma Gandhi at Birla House in New Delhi during a prayer meeting in Birla House in New Delhi on January 30, 1948. Godse was a member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as well but his affiliation to the saffron organisation at the time of assassination remains contested.
“A Hindutvavadi had shot Gandhiji. All Hindutvavadis feel that Gandhiji is no more. Where there is truth, Bapu is still alive today! #GandhiForever," Rahul Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.
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Raut told reporters that shooting Jinnah would have been an act of patriotism since he was the one who demanded the partition of India and the formation of Pakistan. He believes, the Rajya Sabha member said, shooting an unarmed Mahatma Gandhi was wrong and the whole world mourns his death even today.
“Formation of Pakistan was Jinnah's demand…If there was a real 'Hindutvawadi', then the person would have shot Jinnah, not Gandhi…Such an act would have been an act of patriotism…The world even today mourns Gandhi Ji's death,” Raut said.
{{/usCountry}}“Formation of Pakistan was Jinnah's demand…If there was a real 'Hindutvawadi', then the person would have shot Jinnah, not Gandhi…Such an act would have been an act of patriotism…The world even today mourns Gandhi Ji's death,” Raut said.
{{/usCountry}}India is observing the 74th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi as Martyr's Day in memory of freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for India’s independence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind, and other top political leaders paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at New Delhi’s Rajghat.