January 30

If I am to die by the bullet of a mad man, I must do so smiling. There must be no anger within me. God must be in my heart and on my lips..
Mohandas K. Gandhi on January 28, 1948, two days prior to his assassination.

At the Ferry Building in San Francisco, there is a statue of Gandhi. The other day, during the weekly “farmers market”, I was gazing up at the statue while climbing on the pedestal with my young daughter. I began to think his life and about his death.

Today is the 59^th anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination. At the risk of critical analysis from faithful readers M. Slither and H. Hughes, I personally find the events leading up to his assassination on January 30, 1948, including the re-occurrence of the Lex Luther-type character Nathuram Godse, fascinating.

1. The First Attempt: June 25, 1934, Pune, India. Traveling in a motorcade of two cars his motorcade came across a railway crossing. The car in which he was traveling was left behind and as the first car reached the auditorium, a bomb exploded.

2. The Second Attempt: May 1944, Panchgani, Pune, India. A crowd of young men, led by Nathuram Godse, held a day long protest demonstration declining an offer to talk to Gandhi when invited. By evening, during the prayer meeting, Nathuram Godse rushed towards Gandhi with a dagger shouting anti-Gandhi slogans. He was overpowered.

3. The Third Attempt: September 9, 1944, Sevagram Shram, India. While leaving for Bombay for talks with Mohammad Ali Jinnah, a group of Hindu activists stopped him. The protesters were stopped by volunteers of the ashram and the leader of this group, Nathuram Godse was again found in possession of a dagger. The policeman who found the dagger then looked up to him and joked,"Why do you want to kill Gandhi?

4. The Fourth Attempt: June29, 1946. A train carrying Mahatma Gandhi called the Gandhi Special derailed near Bombay. The report submitted by the motorman or driver of the train claimed that boulders were placed on the tracks of the train with the intention to derail it.

5. The Fifth Attempt: January 14, 1948. A group of six, including Nathuram Godse, came to Birla Bhavan (aka Birla House) in Delhi to carry out an attack on Mahatama Gandhi. The group placed a cotton ball enclosing a bomb on the wall behind the podium where Gandhi was to speak and ignited it. The bomb went off without creating any pan

6. The Sixth and Successful Attempt: January 30, 1948. Like Lex Luther, Nathuram Godse returned to Pune with a purchased Beretta automatic and eleven rounds of ammunition. He proceeded to get close enough to Mahatma Gandhi to shoot him twice in his chest at point blank range.

Happy Death Day Gandhi.