Gopal Godse

• 1. Gopal Vinayak Godse

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  Gopal Vinayak Godse died on the 26th of November 2005, the last surviving member of the conspiracy to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi. He died at his home in Pune. In a 2003 interview, just two years before his death, he stated plainly that he had no regrets. Who was this man? What beliefs drove him to conspire in one of the most scrutinized political killings of the twentieth century? And what sustained those beliefs over the decades that followed?

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• 2. Before the Killing

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  Born on the 12th of June 1919, Gopal Vinayak Godse grew up under British colonial rule. He served in the British Army during the Anglo-Iraqi War. At the time of Gandhi's assassination, he was employed at a transportation company.

  His older brother Nathuram Godse shared his convictions. The two, together with other co-conspirators, made a first attempt on Gandhi's life ten days before the assassination that would succeed. That effort failed. A conspirator named Madanlal Pahwa was arrested for his role in the aborted attempt and imprisoned. The group did not abandon the plan. On the 30th of January 1948, Nathuram fatally shot Gandhi. Gopal was arrested shortly afterward, his connection to the conspiracy established. The legal proceedings that followed would also determine the fate of a co-conspirator named Narayan Apte.

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• 3. Trial and Sentence

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  In November 1949, Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were sentenced to death. Both men were subsequently hanged for their roles in the assassination.

  Gopal Godse, tried alongside them, received a different verdict. He was convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to prison, where he would serve 16 years.

  He walked free in 1964. What came next would ensure the conspiracy's arguments did not disappear with those who had been hanged.

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• 4. Royalties and the RSS

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  In Pune, Godse supported himself through royalties earned from writing about the assassination. In 1993, he also published a book his brother Nathuram had written, titled Why I Assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.

  Nathuram, he stated in an interview shortly afterward, had been a long-time member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He added that he, Nathuram, and their two brothers had all held membership in the organization and had never left. The RSS had previously distanced itself from Gandhi's assassins. Political commentator A. G. Noorani noted that two of Godse's books were promoted by the Organiser in 1997. The Organiser is the official magazine of the RSS, and one of those books concerned the assassination directly.

  Godse was married to Sindhu Godse. The couple had two daughters and a son. One of his books became the source material for a Marathi play, titled Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy, which translates as This is Nathuram Godse Speaking.

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• 5. A Stage for the Defense

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  Pradeep Dalvi wrote the play, and it was first performed in 1997. It drew on Gopal Godse's book May It Please You Honour for its source material.

  Scholar Karline McLain described the play as one that "enacts Godse's defense plea." She added that it "explores the assassination of Gandhi and the trial of Godse from Godse's point of view."

  Through Dalvi's 1997 production, the arguments in May It Please You Honour reached audiences beyond the printed page.

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