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War of words between Congress, BJP as Godse’s anniversary celebrated in Madhya Pradesh

The birth anniversary of Nathuram Godse was celebrated by the Hindu Mahasabha.

Updated on: May 20, 2020, 07:02:23 IST
Hindustan Times, Bhopal/Gwalior | By
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Like every year, the Hindu Mahasabha celebrated the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse at its office in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior on Tuesday.

The photo of Nathuram Godse at Gwalior office of the Hindu Mahasabha. (HT Photo)
The photo of Nathuram Godse at Gwalior office of the Hindu Mahasabha. (HT Photo)

The event was celebrated by lighting 111 lamps in front of Godse’s portrait.

The prompted the Congress to launch an attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state.

“I am deeply pained and anguished on coming to know about celebration of Nathuram Godse’s birth anniversary. It’s an anti-national act which could be possible because of patronage of the ruling party BJP. I demand of Shivraj Singh Chouhan government to order lodging of an FIR against those who indulged in the act,” said RP Singh, Congress leader in Gwalior.

“It’s unfortunate that the state government endorses the ideology of Nathuram Godse. That’s why celebration of Godse’s anniversary by lighting lamps by some people who don’t believe in democracy is not surprising,” another Congress leader KK Mishra said.

But the state unit of the BJP hit back at Congress. “Congress is in habit of trying to draw political mileage from any such situation as it has lost its base in Madhya Pradesh and relevance in politics. The fact is BJP has nothing to do with any celebration on Godse’s birth anniversary,” said Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal.

Earlier in November 2017, Hindu Mahasabha set up a shrine of Godse in its Gwalior office on the death anniversary of Godse by installing his bust. Godse’s bust was unveiled amid vedic chants and it was worshipped with cow urine, curd, milk, honey and water of Ganges.

The district administration in Gwalior later forcibly removed the bust when Congress lodged its protest against it.

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