Veteran scribe recalls the day Gandhi was killed

Pradhan was a scribe with Marathi daily Chitra and a socialist

MUMBAI: “For Mumbaikars, Mahatma Gandhi was in the eye of a storm since the Partition in August 1947. But soon after his assassination on January 30, 1948, they started worshipping him. There was no communal riot,” recalled Vasant Pradhan, 84.

Pradhan was a sub-editor with a Marathi daily Chitra and an activist of the Socialist Party. He said, “The news of Gandhiji’s assassination came around 6 pm and everybody in the newsroom was shocked.”

“I lived in Khar and my office was at Fort. After finishing the edition, when I caught a train, I realised that rumours were spreading.”

“Next day, it became clear that the assassin was a Maharashtrian Brahmin Nathuram Godse. After that started a series of attacks on the houses of Brahmins and the offices of rightist organisations.”

 “The office of Hindu Mahasabha near Dadar post office was a likely target in the aftermath of Gandhi’s assassination. To avoid the attack, some women party workers stood outside with Jawaharlal Nehru’s posters in their hands. They were spared.”

“By this time, politics has taken its place. Socialist leaders Nanasaheb Gore and Shankarrao More argued that attacks on Brahmins were a result of their predecessors’ atrocities. Senior journalist PK Atre defended the Brahmins and appealed not to believe what Gore and More were saying. In court, he admitted that he had no idea that Brahmins will be attacked.”

“As a member of the Socialist Party, I participated in a rally. We shouted slogans demanding death sentence for Savarkar. But our leader Moidduin Harris restrained us. Noted social worker Sane Guruji started a Marathi eveninger Kartavya. He used to write a column named Gandhijinchya Godgoshti (Nice stories of Gandhi). But the eveninger could not last more than six months as Sane Guruji was against publishing crime stories.”