This volume brings to light the report of the Kapur Commission, which was appointed by the government of India in 1965 to examine the depth and scope of the conspiracy that lay behind the killing of Gandhi. This three-volume report has been absent from the public domain though it contains invaluable evidence of the extent of complicity.
Kapur Commission Report deals with the Conspiracy to Murder of Mahatma Gandhi who was shot dead point-blank range by Nathuram Vinayak Godse in Birla House Prayer Gardens on 30th January 1948. Three among the eight accused i.e. Madanlal, Karkare, and Gopal Godse were released on12th October 1964 after completion of their life-sentence and honoured on November 12, 1964 in Pune at a private function presided by Dr. G.V. Ketkar. In that function, Delhi and Bombay Civil and Police administration were strongly condemned for their laxity and dereliction of duty which ultimately resulted in the murder of Mahatma Gandhi. The Indian Express dated November 14, 1964 commented adversely about this function. There was a furore in Bombay Legislative Assembly and Indian Parliament which led the instituion of Kapur Inquiry Commission. The Commission’s report was made public in 1970s. This digitised Report in two parts is an indispensable one for Judicial Officers & Police Officials, Lawyers & Students of Legal Studies, Historians & Human Right Activists, and above all for Indian Politicians & Bureaucrats in discharging their official duties without any commission or omission and comprehending the social responsibility that is to be shouldered as and when required in times of crisis. By S. PADMAVATHI and D.G. HARIPRASATH.
Kapur Commission Report deals with the Conspiracy to Murder of Mahatma Gandhi who was shot dead point-blank range by Nathuram Vinayak Godse in Birla House Prayer Gardens on 30th January 1948. Three among the eight accused i.e. Madanlal, Karkare, and Gopal Godse were released on12th October 1964 after completion of their life-sentence and honoured on November 12, 1964 in Pune at a private function presided by Dr. G.V. Ketkar. In that function, Delhi and Bombay Civil and Police administration were strongly condemned for their laxity and dereliction of duty which ultimately resulted in the murder of Mahatma Gandhi. The Indian Express dated November 14, 1964 commented adversely about this function. There was a furore in Bombay Legislative Assembly and Indian Parliament which led the instituion of Kapur Inquiry Commission. The Commission’s report was made public in 1970s. This digitised Report in two parts is an indispensable one for Judicial Officers & Police Officials, Lawyers & Students of Legal Studies, Historians & Human Right Activists, and above all for Indian Politicians & Bureaucrats in discharging their official duties without any commission or omission and comprehending the social responsibility that is to be shouldered as and when required in times of crisis. By S. PADMAVATHI and D.G. HARIPRASATH.
Since then, many lies have been passed off as truths; half-truths have been mixed with true incidents and passed off as whole truths. 'Gandhi was responsible for Partition'; 'Gandhi favoured Muslims and abandoned Hindus'; 'Killing Gandhi was the only way to save Hindu India'; 'Murdering Gandhi was an act of patriotism'; 'Gandhi gifted ₹55 crores to Pakistan'-these were, and even today are, some of the statements propagated by Hindu extremist organizations and worshippers of Nathuram Godse, the murderer. This book is written to put the facts straight. Written by Gandhi's great-grandson Tushar Gandhi, Let's Kill Gandhi! deals with facts gleaned from a lot of verbal history, from books, archival material, from the records of the murder trial and investigations, from books written by the defence lawyers and judges, from newspaper reports, the report of the J.L. Kapur Commission of Inquiry and from what Tushar grew up hearing in the family. Never in the history of political murders has such a nexus of human errors, procedural foul-ups, and sheer apathy colluded to allow a bunch of bungling amateurs to succeed so easily. This book is a chronicle of the conspiracy that goes beyond Nathuram Godse, Gandhi's murderer. Written by none other than Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson. The book puts the facts regarding Gandhi's death straight. A well-researched account of the murder, trial and investigations around one of the most debated events in the Indian history.
While the nation was celebrating Independence from British Rule and singing all praises for the ‘Father of The Nation’ – Mahatma Gandhi, the news of his assassination came as a shock. He was shot in the chest three times while he was walking towards the prayer grounds at the Birla House, New Delhi. The man behind the assassination – Nathuram Godse was a well known nationalist. He was arrested at the crime scene and sentenced to death after a year long trial. The book contains the final speech given by Godse in the court, mentioning the reason behind the drastic step he took.
FROM THE AUTHOR OF GANDHI'S ASSASSIN ‘A compelling portrait of M. S. Golwalkar.’—Thomas Blom Hansen ‘…[biography of] one of the most secretive public figures of post-independence India.’—Chistophe Jaffrelot ‘A disturbing book, because of its revelations on the inner working of the RSS.’—Mridula Mukherjee Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, or Guruji as he is reverentially referred to by his followers, is regarded as the demi-god of Hindutva politics and often accorded a status higher than even the founder of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, K. B. Hedgewar. In 1940, when 34-year-old Golwalkar unexpectedly assumed charge of the RSS on Hedgewar’s death, the Hindu militia was still in its nascent stage, with pockets of influence mainly in Maharashtra. Under Golwalkar’s leadership over the next three decades, the RSS and its allied organizations, known as the Sangh Parivar, extended its network across the entire country and penetrated almost every aspect of Indian society. Golwalkar’s ideological influence was enormous—and it did not end with his death. Golwalkar’s prescriptions in his incendiary book We or Our Nationhood Defined, published in 1939, now became central to the ideological training and radicalization of youth dedicated to the idea of a Hindu Rashtra. Here, Golwalkar prescribed a solution to India’s ‘minority problem’ based on the Nazi treatment of Jews in the Third Reich. As Dhirendra K. Jha conclusively establishes in this book, this would eventually provide the core of the Sangh’s credo and, as events in the recent past have borne out, have a lasting influence on Indian politics. Drawing from a wealth of original archival material and interviews, the deeply researched and scholarly Golwalkar: The Myth Behind the Man, the Man Behind the Machine pierces through the many legends built around the man in the biographies written by his loyalists during his own lifetime. Jha traces Golwalkar’s path from a directionless youth to a demagogue who plotted to capture political power by countering the secularist vision of nationalist leaders from Nehru to Gandhi. Ambitious, insecure, tactical and secretive—Jha draws a compelling and sinister portrait of one of the most prominent Hindutva leaders, and of the RSS and its worldview that evolved under him.
Following independence, the Nehruvian approach to socialism in India rested on three pillars: secularism and democracy in the political domain, state intervention in the economy, and diplomatic non-alignment mitigated by pro-Soviet leanings after the 1960s. These features defined a distinct "Indian model," if not the country's political identity. From this starting point, Christophe Jaffrelot traces the transformation of India throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, particularly the 1980s and 90s. The world's largest democracy has sustained itself by embracing not only the vernacular politicians of linguistic states, but also Dalits and "Other Backward Classes," or OBCs. The simultaneous--and related--rise of Hindu nationalism has put minorities--and secularism--on the defensive. In many ways the rule of law has been placed on trial as well. The liberalization of the economy has resulted in growth, yet not necessarily development, and India has acquired a new global status, becoming an emerging power intent on political and economic partnerships with Asia and the West. The traditional Nehruvian system is giving way to a less cohesive though more active India, a country that has become what it is against all odds. Jaffrelot maps this tumultuous journey, exploring the role of religion, caste, and politics in determining the fabric of a modern democratic state.
Hindu nationalism has emerged as a political ideology represented by the Hindu Mahasabha. This book explores the campaign for Hindu unity and organisation in the context of the Hindu-Muslim conflict in colonial north India in the early twentieth century. It argues that India's partition in 1947 was a result of the campaign and politics of the Hindu rightwing rather than the Islamist politics of the Muslim League alone. The book explains that the Mahasabha articulated Hindu nationalist ideology as a means of constructing a distinct Hindu political identity and unity among the Hindus in conflict with the Muslims in the country. It looks at the Mahasabha’s ambivalence with the Indian National Congress due to an extreme ideological opposition, and goes on to argue that the Mahasabha had its ideological focus on an anti-Muslim antagonism rather than the anti-British struggle for India’s independence, adding to the difficulties in the negotiations on Hindu-Muslim representation in the country. The book suggests that the Mahasabha had a limited class and regional base and was unable to generate much in the way of a mass movement of its own, but developed a quasi-military wing, besides its involvement in a number of popular campaigns. Bridging the gap in Indian historiography by focusing on the development and evolution of Hindu nationalism in its formative period, this book is a useful study for students and scholars of Asian Studies and Political History.
