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He Ram! Another Gandhi controversy

George Iype, lately in Kannur

Mahatma Gandhi's dying words, He Ram, have kicked off a raging controversy in Kerala.

And at the centre is Bahumanapetta Kodathi Mumbake (May It Please Your Honour), the Malayalam version of Gopal Godse's book on Gandhi.

In a reprise of the ban on Pradip Dalvi's <play Mi Nathuram Godse Boltoy by the Maharashtra government, the Left Front government in Kerala has confiscated copies of the Godse book, and publisher P V Jayaprakash has been taken into custody.

Jayaprakash is managing partner of Thapathy Publications, a publishing house promoted by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and based in Payyannur, north Kerala.

Gopal Godse was scheduled to formally launch the Malayalam version of his book in Kannur last week.

"We are translating and publishing your book in Malayalam not for profit, but for the benefit of our Hindu brothers in Kerala," says Jayaprakash, in one of his letters to Godse, seized by the police along with the copies of the books.

What has really angered Gandhians in the state is the prologue to the book, written by Gopal Godse himself, in which he states that it is a total lie that Gandhi uttered He Ram after being shot at by his brother.

"Gandhi never said He Ram," writes Godse. "It is a rumour cooked by the Gandhi followers."

Although the book is a verbatim translation of Nathuram Godse's statement in court during his trial, the prologue lists the developments after the assassination of Gandhi, and the persecution and torture he had to undergo in the jail and after his release.

Gopal Godse, who was also found guilty of conspiracy and sentenced to transportation for life in the Gandhi murder case, published the original version of the book after his release from 17 years of imprisonment.

Godse was later re-arrested under the Defence of India Act, and kept in jail till 1965.

The Malayalam edition of the book carries photographs of the Godse brothers in police custody, and a letter written by Nathuram expressing his wish to contribute Rs 101 for the renovation of one Somanatha Kshethra.

"The book is highly offensive, and the prologue is denigrating to the memory of Gandhiji," prominent literary critic T Padmanabhan told Rediff On The NeT.

"The Father of the Nation is being assassinated again and again, across the country," Padmanabhan said.

"There are Mayawatis and Kanshi Rams in Kerala also, who force the common people to believe that Gandhi was anti-Hindu and anti-national," the critic said, in a reference to an incident some years back when Bahujan Samaj Party activists barged into Rajghat, in New Delhi, and destroyed part of Gandhi's memorial.

Publisher Jayaprakash, now out on bail, however, avers that he is neither a member of the RSS, nor the BJP, and that his "intention of publishing the book was to let the people know what Nathuram Godse had said in the court justifying his action."

"The original version of Gopal Godse's book was published several years ago, there was no fuss then, I was only producing a Malayalam edition with the author's permission. Moreover, the sworn statement of an accused in court is a public document," Jayaprakash argued.

Interestingly, the Thapathi imprint had found itself in controversy even earlier, when it published a book on the Moplah rebellion.

The controversy, meanwhile, has spilled over into the precincts of the University of Calicut. The prescribed English text book is a collection of essays, including one on Mahatma Gandhi by Lord Patrick Lawrence. In it, the author describes how Gandhi murmured "He Ram" after he was shot at by Nathuram Godse.

But soon after the academic session got under way last month, students found that Lawrence's description of the He Ram incident had been removed from the text book.

Gandhians allege that Gopal Godse's book must have forced the University book selection committee to delete that particular part of the essay. "We are sure it has been done by a section of University teachers who are members of the RSS and VHP," Ramunny Nair, a prominent Calicut-based Gandhian, said.

An enquiry has been ordered into the incident, by the vice-chancellor, who has further promised to incorporate the deleted sentences back in the essay.

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