Real Hindutvadi would have shot Jinnah, not Gandhi: Sanjay Raut

A real ‘Hindutvavadi’ would have shot Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah and not Mahatma Gandhi and such an act would have been an act of  patriotism, retorted Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday (January 30), as a comeback to a tweet by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhiji’s 74th death anniversary, Rahul Gandhi tweeted in Hindi, “One Hindutvada shot Gandhiji, and all Hinduvtvas believe that Gandhiji is no longer alive. Wherever there is truth, Gandhiji still lives on. #GandhiForever”.

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On January 30, 1948, M K Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse in the Birla House compound in Delhi. Godse had accepted in the courtroom: “I took courage in both my hands and I did fire the shots at Gandhiji on 30th January 1948, on the prayer-grounds of Birla House.” Godse may have pulled the trigger but he was reportedly a member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the time and his association with the rightist organisation at the time of the assassination remains a grey area.

Reacting to Rahul Gandhi’s tweet, Raut told reporters that it was Jinnah who had wanted the partition of India and the formation of Pakistan. “If there was a real ‘Hindutvawadi’, then the person would have shot Jinnah, not Gandhi…Such an act would have been an act of patriotism…The world even today mourns Gandhi Ji’s death,” Raut said, according to news reports.

The 74th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi was observed as Martyr’s Day in memory of freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for India’s independence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other top political leaders paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at New Delhi’s Rajghat.