New Delhi: Gaurav Pandhi, a Social media activist and financial consultant has written an open letter to Mahatma Gandhi's great grand son Srikrrishna Kulkarni. The letter is his personal view and neither IBNLive nor CNN-IBN endorse it.
March 11th 2014
Dear Shri Shrikrisna Kulkarni,
Greetings!
On the onset let me thank you for writing the letter.
Sir, please accept my condolences for the pain that your immediate family must have been through when Gandhi ji was assassinated. I am sure you will also accept the fact that Gandhi ji was a part of every congressman's family and he was the strongest driving force behind the Indian National Congress. The fact that Gandhiji was the member of every Indian's family and thus it gives us every right to be irked about his assassination even today when we see the propagators around.
Gandhi ji 'was' your Great Grandfather, but he 'is' the Father of our Nation. He was killed by Nathuram Godse and it is a well-known fact that you too mentioned in your letter. Surely, saying Tamils killed our former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, would be nonsensical and therefore no one says it but 'the LTTE' killed him. Similarly no one says that Indians killed Gandhiji or that the Hindus killed Gandhiji, no, we say the RSS killed Gandhiji.
While you talked about the 'unknown' inquiry commissions in your letter, let me bring to your notice the commission of inquiry set up in 1965 under Justice Jiwan Lal Kapoor, a former judge of the Supreme Court of India. Now that Savarkar was dead, two of his close associates, A.P. Kasar and G.V. Damle - the former was the Private Secretary to Savarkar and the latter is his Bodyguard - deposed before the commission. Likewise, the Kapur Commission had access to a lot of evidence which was not available to the trial judge. The Commission in its finding report suggested that "all these facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group".
Furthermore, I am sure you would not want me to mention here the linkage between the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha, which Savarkar represented. In the open letter you mentioned about Gopal Godse, the younger brother of Nathuram Godse - but I expected you to also mention that Gopal Godse had always maintained that Nathuram never left the RSS and he was always a part of the RSS. According to Gopal Godse, Nathuram in his trial said that he left the RSS because Golwalkar and the RSS were in a lot of trouble after the murder of Gandhi. Gopal Godse was hence very critical of the RSS for disowning Nathuram Godse.
Anyway, the RSS has always been in the awe of Savarkar - till date. The Kapur Commission in its report listed down the evidences on the basis they would suggest why the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha led by Savarkar were hand in glove. Savarkar's hatred for Gandhiji was very well-known and he openly favored the political assassinations targeting Gandhiji, Nehru, Patel & other Congress leaders - for Hindu Rashtra - the concept Gandhiji always called illogical. After the assassination, under-trial, Savarkar tried to show his admiration for Gandhiji by reading out some written notes in court, wiping off his tears. Then decades later, the political wing of the RSS, Bhartiya Janta Party, would install Savarkar's portrait in Parliament - when in Government (1999-04). Today, the leaders of the same BJP - the puppet of RSS - that allegedly conspired and executed the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi - talk about how they admire Gandhiji even though their supporters hail Nathuram Godse for killing him. The hypocrisy of the whole Sangh (that you tried defending) stands exposed with it.
Sir, I thank you for the 'humble suggestions' you've made in your letter referring to the last name 'Gandhi'. Rahul Gandhi is the s/o of Rajiv Gandhi s/o Firoze Gandhi s/o Faredoon Jehangir Gandhi. Now, I am not able to understand why you would suggest anyone to stop using his / her last name only because it happened to be the last name of your Great Grandfather? With all due respect to our beloved Mahatma, no one ever has had copyright on any one surname and there exists lakhs of people with their last name as Gandhi - don't call them a bluff!
Regardless of all this, in all probability - for Gandhi ji being the father of our nation - every Indian has the right to use Gandhi as his/ her surname and for you it should be rather a matter of pride and not otherwise.
Also, you said that your family had moved on after Gandhiji's assassination; however your second cousin Tushar 'Gandhi' (your mother's father's brother's garndson) holds the same view that the RSS killed Gandhiji. Nevertheless, it's for you to sort it out in the Gandhi family!
Thanks & regards,
Gaurav Pandhi
Disclaimer: Dear Shrikrishna Kulkarini, it is purely co-incidental that my surname (Pandhi) is almost written & pronounced as your Great Grandfather's surname (Gandhi) - & therefore, believe you me and don't call it a bluff.
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