THE Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) has strongly opposed the move of the Hindu Mahasabha to erect statues of Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, in major cities of the country. DYFI condemned the silence of the government in the matter. The Central Executive Committee of DYFI submitted a petition to the Prime Minister and demanded that the government must firmly disallow all such moves aimed at promoting Godse cult in our country. It further said the central government must instruct all state governments to firmly disallow such plans. In its petition to Prime Minister Modi, DYFI said according to several reports in the media, certain political groups such as Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha have declared their intention to honour Nathuram Godse by building his statues at public places, building Godse temple, organising film shows, etc. Along with all the patriotic citizens of our republic, we condemn these heinous proclamations and plans. Hindu Mahasabha leaders have announced January 30, the martyrdom day of Mahatma Gandhi, as the day when the foundation stone would be laid for a Godse temple and Godse movie would be screened. They have chosen the anniversary of the murder of Mahatma Gandhi to exhort the people to shower praise on the murderer! By such shameless display of their barbarian mindset, these elements have demonstrated that they are true followers of Nathuram Godse. The government of India must firmly disallow all such moves aimed at promoting Godse cult in our country. We further demand that the government must instruct all state governments to firmly disallow such activities. “We have observed two trends in the efforts to slowly inculcate respect for Godse. One is to unabashedly vilify Mahatma Gandhi and eulogize Godse. The other is to formally disapprove the act of murdering Gandhiji but at the same time exonerate Godse by suggesting that he also was a patriot though with an ideology different from that of Gandhiji. All these are nothing but cunning ways to legitimize Godse and the poisonous ideas personified by him,” it said. To claim that Godse was a patriot is a disgusting display of dishonesty. Godse did not oppose British imperialists and he did not fight for the freedom of India even as thousands of patriotic Indians were laying their lives in the struggle to liberate India from British imperialism. Godse belonged to that political stream whose leader V D Savarkar begged for clemency from the British and, upon gaining his release, totally desisted from working against the imperialists. Godse had no love for India and the people of India. He was engaged in the business of spreading hatred. According to the vision of India that he shared, crores of Indians belonging to minority communities were to be exterminated or driven out of the country or compelled to live in permanent subordination with no rights. It is such maniacal ideology which prompted Godse and his colleagues to murder Mahatma Gandhi. The current effort to characterise Godse as a nationalist and a patriot is, in fact, part of a plan to spread the ideology of hatred personified by him and take the country to the path of endless violence. The independent republic of India cannot permit any effort to spread the lie that Godse, the murderer of Mahatma Gandhi, was a patriot. We urge the government to strictly disallow all direct or indirect efforts to eulogise Godse. (END)