By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: Lawyer and activist Shahzad Poonawala has petitioned to the Prime Minister, Home Minister, HRD Minister and Law Minister against the proposed installation of statues of Nathuram Godse, whom he calls a “terrorist and killer of MK Gandhi”.
Demanded action against it from the government, he noted that public fund and lands should not be used to build statues of the killer of the Father of the Nation, adding that an attempt is being made to legitimise his case by Sangh ideological affiliates/Hindu Mahasabha .
(Courtesy: amarujala.com)
“As a concerned citizen of India I would like to draw your attention to this extremely disturbing news report that indicates the intention of the Hindu Mahasabha outfit, an ideological affiliate of the Sangh Parivar, to install the statues and busts of Nathuram Godse’s, the murderer of our Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, at public places across India,” Poonawala wrote in a letter to the MP, which is also copied to the Home and HRD Minister.
In the past too Poonawala has been filing several petition to various ministries and commissions against human rights violations.
The Mahasabha’s national president, Chandra Prakash Kaushik, reportedly told The Hind, “There needs to be a thorough investigation of the events that led to the assassination, so that vilification of Nathuram Godse ends and the people of this country know that he wasn’t an assassin by choice but was forced to make the decision to kill Gandhi.”
Urging the PM to stand his stand, Poonawala writes, “It is incumbent for us to know whether you only have Gandhi on your lips and Godse in your heart? If not, I hope you will act immediately by not only ensuring that no public funds are spent on Godse statues but also that no legitimacy is given by your office to groups like the Hindu Mahasabha.”
“No attempt should be made to revisit the decided case of Mahatma Gandhi. And no endeavour should be made to white wash the role of communal fanatics through post-facto justifications in the discourse of our educational syllabi in state run or subsidised schools. Here should be no linkages of outfits such as Hindu Mahasabha in drafting educational curriculum or content whatsoever. Such standing instructions must be issued to all state governments, government schools and colleges,” he further notes.
Poonawala urges the PM, “to publicly act and speak, to demonstrate” his will and intention on this subject and move the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Law and Ministry of Human Resource Development to take necessary steps, as this issue lies at the very heart of India’s plural, secular ethos,” while ending with the last words spoken by Mahatma Gandhi, “Hey Ram”.