Prologue continues....

The Mahatma was assassinated on 30 January 1948 in Delhi. The assassin, Nathuram Vinayak Godse, was a Hindu fanatic who quite erroneously believed that Gandhi should be eliminated to protect the interests of Hindus. On the evening of that fateful day, when Gandhi was walking towards the dais in the premises of Birla House to participate in

his regular prayer meeting, Godse suddenly appeared before him and shot

him three times.

The assassination of Gandhi is a tragic chapter in the history of mankind. Gandhi represented the moral conscience of man. Though rooted firmly in the Hindu faith, he evolved into a higher being transcending barriers of religion, caste and creed. Lesser beings could not comprehend his mind.

Even his own close associates failed to fathom the true dimension of his mind. His thoughts were noble; his heart went out to the suffering people, be they Hindus or Muslims or whoever. The Indians tried to imprison Gandhi within the four walls of their narrow thinking and deal with him. They were dangerously ignorant. So Gandhi had to become a martyr.

The political developments during the decade preceding Independence,

the strident demand for partition of India by the Muslim League, the partition itself and the horrendous massacre of millions of men, women and children, the tens of thousands of refugees pouring into India with their tales of terrible suffering, all this had left a deep scar on the Indian

mind. It was, therefore, the first and foremost task of the government to

address this problem seriously and effectively.

The credit goes to the Government of India led by Pandit Nehru which rehabilitated the refugees and prevented the explosive situation from getting out of control. It is true that independent India had to face explosions of communal violence periodically, resulting in great loss of life and property.  The presence of great leaders like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, and the Indian National Congress, which represented the consensus of the nation, effectively helped to bury the painful past and reassert the secular convictions of the people.

To be continued...