Naturam Godse

Naturam Godse was the assassin of Mohandas Gandhi, one of the principal figures in the movement for India's independence from Britain. Godse was a right-wing Hindu who blamed Gandhi for his role in supporting the Partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan. His writings explaining his motivations were banned by the government of India for many years. Following his assassination of Gandhi, Godse was tried and executed. His ties to the Hindu right-wing led to the banning of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after Gandhi's assassination.

In the play Me Naturam Godse Boltoy, banned by the government of India, but later published by the Indian magazine Rediff[?] (and now widely available on the Internet), Godse's immediate motivation is ascribed to Gandhi's January 13, 1948 decision to fast to the death unless the Indian central government reversed a decision to withhold the transfer of 55 crore (550 million) rupees to the government of Pakistan. The Indian government immediately reversed its decision, prompting Godse to assassinate Gandhi on January 30, 1948.