During the course of the conversation, he mentioned that they were going to alight at Dadar and go to a place near Shivaji Park. Apte suggested that they drop Bimba. Bimba had arranged for her brother to pick her up at Dadar, so she offered Apte and Godse a lift. On learning that they were going to Savarkar Sadan, Veer Savarkar's home, Bimba told them that her house was virtually next doors. While Badge and Shankar Kistayya alighted at Dadar and proceeded straight to the Hindu Mahasabha office to deliver the goods, Apte and Godse drove down to Savarkar Sadan with Bimba and her brother. After a while, they proceeded to the Hindu Mahasabha office. Apte and Godse met them on the staircase as Badge and Kistayya were going down for a cup of tea. All of them then proceeded to Savarkar Sadan with the arms. Badge was carrying the bag containing the explosives and detonators. Badge and Kistayya were made to wait outside while Apte and Godse went in with the bag of explosives. They came out after about fifteen minutes still carrying the bag. All of them got into a car and proceeded to Dixit Maharaj's house in Bhuleshwar, an old business district in south central Bombay.
Dixit Maharaj's real name was Mahant Shrikrushna Jivanji Maharaj. He was the younger brother of Dada Maharaj, the mahant of the Mota Mandir. Dixit was a religious leader of the Pushti Marga Vaishnava sect, a sub-caste of the Vishnu worshippers in Hinduism, a community of baniyas or traders. The brothers claimed to be decendents of the founder of the Vaishnava sect Vallabhacharya. Dada Maharaj and his brother were known to be financiers of extremist Hindu activities and had in the past financed attacks carried out against Muslims. Various plans hatched by Apte had won their approval, and so he was sure he could enlist their support for their final act. Dixit also knew Badge since he had purchased stab-proof chain mail vests from him; he had also asked Badge to develop a similar bullet-proof vest for him.
When they reached his home Dixit Maharaj was asleep, so Apte left the bag of explosives with a servant, telling him to keep it in a secure place and that they would collect it later.
The four then drove to the Hindu Mahasabha office. Apte gave Badge Rs. 50 towards travel expenses and asked him and Kistayya to stay in the office premises. Apte was eager to get rid of the two so he could meet Manorama.
As was typical of the two, who tended to allow themselves more luxury than the other gang members, Apte and Godse had checked into the Sea Green South Hotel on Marine Drive, on the fringe of the business and government district.
When Badge and Kistayya entered the Hindu Mahasabha office they saw Madanlal Pahwa. After greeting each other, Badge inquired about Karkare. Pahwa told him that Karkare (in his Punjabi-accented Hindi, Pahwa called him 'Karkara Seth') was visiting relatives in Thana, a town near Bombay, and would be back either late that night or the next morning.
Meanwhile, Pahwa had visited Dr. Jain that afternoon and apprised him of the work his group had done in Ahmednagar. At this point Angad Singh, a friend who was visiting Dr. Jain, got up to leave. Pahwa went on to boast that he was a part of a group who were going to Delhi on an important mission. On being coaxed he said their mission was to kill a very important leader for which they had procured bombs and weapons. He said that Karkara Seth, who had accompanied Pahwa on his previous visit, was the financier. Pahwa claimed that he was entrusted the job of exploding a bomb at Gandhi's prayer meeting to create confusion. Taking advantage of the confusion the rest of the group would 'overpower' Gandhi. Jain did not take Pahwa seriously as he knew him to be a braggart.
Dr. Jain, in his statement, said he spoke to Angad Singh the next day about what Pahwa had said, and the both of them concluded that Pahwa was just bragging.
THURSDAY, 15 JANUARY 1948
At Birla House, on the third day of his fast, Gandhi's condition was deteriorating. He had become weak and had to be carried to the bathroom on a chair. A medical bulletin issued by three physicians, Drs. B.C. Roy, Jivraj Mehta, and M.D.D. Gilder, who had examined him, stated: 'Gandhiji is naturally losing weight, the weakness has increased. The voice is feeble. Acetone bodies have appeared in his urine'. This implied that the disintegration of the body-tissue as a result of fasting had begun to fill the blood stream with toxins. He had entered, what in medical terms was referred to as the 'danger zone'. What alarmed the doctors was that his body was not maintaining the water balance: as against an input of sixty-eight ounces of warm water it had eliminated only twenty-eight ounces. In other words, his kidneys were failing.
But the spirit was still lively. In a letter to Mirabehn, Gandhi joked: 'I am taking my meal such as a fasting man with prescribed food can take. Don't be shocked. The food consists of eight ounces of hot water sipped with difficulty. You sip it as poison, well knowing that in result it is nectar. It revives me whenever I take it. Strange to say, this time I am able to take about eight meals of this poison-tasting but nectar-like meal. Yet I claim to be fasting and credulous people accept it! What a strange world!'
He was too weak to walk to the prayer ground that evening so a microphone was hooked up in his room by his bedside. Gandhi's voice was barely audible as he spoke to the people gathered there to hear his daily speech. After the prayers his cot was placed on the veranda from where he could be seen by the people outside. He lay on his side covered by a white woollen shawl, his hands folded in a namaskar, and his face sad, pensive but serene at the same time. When the people saw him, they realised that they would have to act fast. Deputations of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs and others assured him that they would live in peace and harmony; a deputation of refugees from the Frontier Provinces assured him that, inspite of suffering immensely, they would not retaliate.
Addressing a rally of more than 10,000 Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, Nehru said, 'The loss of Mahatma Gandhi's life would mean the loss of India's soul, because he is the embodiment of India's spiritual power.... Like a prophet, he has realised that communal fighting, if not checked immediately, would bring about the end of freedom.'
In many of his prayer meetings after the carnage that followed the Muslim League's Direct Action Day on 14 August 1946, and more so after Partition, Gandhi had held the Muslim League responsible for spreading hatred and igniting communal passions in both parts of India. Shuaib Qureshi, a close friend of his, protested that this criticism was unjustified. But Gandhi felt that in these trying times, he would call a spade a spade and not sugar-coat the issue for diplomatic niceties. He told Qureshi that he was unrepentant about blaming the Muslim League for the present state of affairs. 'I cannot in all honesty absolve it. Nor must I in this crisis mince words or keep back things, which might displease others. I say further, that those who cannot appreciate this side of my nature cannot well associate themselves with the prayer for the successful termination of my fast. It is the privilege of friendship to speak out the truth even though it might sound unpleasant to the ear, in the hope that genuine friendship will survive.'
On the third day of the fast the Government of India, in a communique, announced that it had decided to immediately pay Pakistan the balance sum of Rs. 55 crores. It said: 'The Government have shared the world-wide anxiety over the fast undertaken by ... the Father of the Nation. In common with him they have anxiously searched for ways and means to bury the hatchet of ill will, prejudice and suspicion, which has poisoned the relations of India and Pakistan. Impelled by the earnest desire to help in every way open to them in the objective which Gandhiji has at heart, the Government have sought for some tangible and striking contribution to the movement for ending the physical suffering of the Nation's soul and to turn the Nation's mind from the present distemper, bitterness and suspicion to constructive and creative effort. The Government are anxious to remove as far as possible, without detriment to the national good, every cause which leads to friction between India and Pakistan....'
Gandhi's fast had also come on the eve of the crucial meeting of the United Nations Security Council that was to discuss the Kashmir issue. He was asked if his fast would not have the effect of overshadowing the refugee train massacre at Gujarat and the Karachi r
iots in which a large number of Sikhs had been killed. The representatives of Pakistan would not be worth their reputation, he was told, if they did not seize the opportunity with both hands to prejudice India's case in the eyes of the United Nations. Gandhi answered that he was not in the habit of allowing himself to be deflected from the pursuit of truth by such considerations. His fast was intended to embrace and purify even the UNO. 'For all I have known of the powers and people outside India, I make bold to say that the fast has created only a healthy impression. Outsiders who are able to take an impartial and unbiased view of what is happening in India cannot distort the purpose of the fast... the United Nations know that my fast aids them to come to a right decision and to give the right guidance to the newly-made two Dominions.'
In Bombay, at about 7.20 am, Apte and Godse reserved two seats on the afternoon flight from Bombay to Delhi for 17 January under the assumed names 'D.N. Karmarkar' and 'S. Marathe'. After booking their flight, they went to the Hindu Mahasabha office in Dadar and met Madanlal, Kistayya and Badge. Apte asked them to come with him; since Pahwa was not ready, he was left behind. The four proceeded to Shivaji Printing Press where they met Karkare. The press belonged to G.M. Joshi of Thana, a family friend of Karkare; this is where he had stayed the previous night. Kistayya was asked to wait outside, Badge was left in the reception area and Apte, Godse and Karkare went into Joshi's personal cabin. The meeting—the agenda of which was to seek funds from Joshi—lasted for thirty minutes. The five then came back to the Hindu Mahasabha office. Karkare asked Pahwa to pick up his bedding and accompany him. Apte got a taxi and all of them, except Kistayya, drove to Dixit Maharaj's house.
When they entered the house, Pahwa left the bedding in the hall and they all went to the sleeping quarters where Dixit was resting. The bag containing the explosives was called for. Badge showed the arms to everybody and demonstrated the use of hand grenades. Dixit saw that Badge was making a mistake and demonstrated the proper method. Then Apte handed the bag to Karkare and told him and Madanlal to proceed to New Delhi that evening.
Apte asked Dixit if he could get two revolvers from him. Dixit said that he did not have any just then but would try and get them. Apte, Godse and Badge then came out of Dixit's house and stood in the courtyard of the temple. Here Apte asked Badge if he would accompany them to Delhi along with Kistayya. Apte told Badge that 'Tatyarao' (in Marathi it implies father's elder brother and is used as an honorific title of respect; this was how as Veer Savarkar was known in the Hindu Mahasabha circles) had decided that Gandhi, Nehru and the senior leader from Bengal Hasan Shaheed Suhrawardy must be 'finished'. He had entrusted the work to Apte and Godse. Badge agreed to accompany them.
The Apte-Godse gang now had their shooter.
Badge wanted to return to Poona before leaving for Delhi as he had unfinished business to attend to. Nathuram also wanted to visit Poona to meet his brother Gopal. Gopal was supposed to get a gun for him and Nathuram wanted to ensure that he had done so. Apte, Godse and Badge then drove down to the Cotton Exchange Building near Pydhonie, an old trading district of south-central Bombay. Apte and Godse went inside leaving Badge outside. To meet the mounting expenses, the Apte-Godse gang was trying to collect funds from known sympathisers. They came out after fifteen to twenty minutes and proceeded towards the Hindu Mahasabha office. Badge got off there; Apte told him to meet them at the Victoria Terminus railway station on the morning of 17 January. Apte and Godse then drove away.
That evening, when Badge visited the Mahasabha office to pick up Kistayya and their luggage, he met Madanlal Pahwa who told him that they had missed the Punjab Mail to Delhi. He mentioned that Karkare was organising tickets for them to travel by the night train to Delhi. They eventually managed two third-class seats on the Peshawar Express, a train that used to travel from Bombay to Peshawar in the North-Western Frontier Province of undivided India. Now the train no longer went beyond the borders of India. The train left Victoria Terminus station at its scheduled time at 9.30 pm.
The first two members of the gang were on their way to Delhi.
Badge and Kistayya left for Poona by the Madras Mail, which left an hour later from the same station. Nathuram Godse also left for Poona that evening.
Apte was the only one who stayed back in Bombay. He wanted to spend a few days with Manorama. Apte told her he was about to leave on a secret mission from which he would possibly not return. Manorama was shattered: the man whom she had trusted was abandoning her for some mysterious mission. Her family would be dishonoured and ostracised.
FRIDAY, 16 JANUARY 1948
In Delhi, Gandhi's condition was slowly reaching a critical stage. His vital signs were slowing down; doctors attending to him were worried about his failing kidney function. His weight, which had dropped by two pounds on the first two days of the fast, had now remained steady at 107 pounds. Their worry was not about a sudden collapse but long lasting and irreparable damage to his vital organs. But Gandhi was not going to give in to their pleadings. 'My sole guide, even dictator, is God, the Infallible and Omnipotent.... If he has any further use of this frail body of mine he will keep it, in spite of the forebodings of the medical men and women. I am in His hands. Therefore ... I dread neither death nor permanent injury .... But I do feel that the warning of the medical friends should—if the country has any use of me—hurry the people to close their ranks. Like brave men and women that we ought to be under hard-won freedom, we should trust even those whom we may suspect to be our enemies. Brave people disdain distrust.' The last was addressed to those who feared that the money given to Pakistan would be used to sustain the military aggression against India in Kashmir.
Reacting to a suggestion that, since the government had agreed to pay the balance amount to Pakistan immediately, he should withdraw his fast, he said that the reasons for which he had started the fast remained unaddressed. The killings had not stopped. Much more needed to be done before he would even think of breaking his fast. 'The hearts had not changed, the hatred was still there.'
That evening, addressing the prayer congregation from his bed, Gandhi said that his vow would be satisfied if the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs of Delhi achieved a union of hearts. The fittest answer to his fast should be 'a complete friendship between the two Dominions such that members of all communities should be able to go to either Dominion without the slightest fear of molestation .... It will be wrong for the rest of the two Dominions to put too heavy a strain upon Delhi. Our government has taken a liberal step without counting the cost. What will be Pakistan's counter gesture? The ways are many if there is the will. Is it there?' he asked.
Patel had to leave for Saurashtra on an important engagement that day, but was reluctant to leave the capital. Gandhi insisted that he go, which led to the speculation that the Home minister was leaving Delhi to show his displeasure with the decision of the government and the fast undertaken by Gandhi. Gandhi had defended Patel's actions time and again, which had wounded the self-respect of the Iron Man of India. In the wake of the sustained campaign being carried out against him by the Nehru lobby in the Congress, Patel offered to resign from the government in a letter he addressed to Gandhi before leaving for Saurashtra.
Badge and Kistayya arrived in Poona early in the morning. Badge took the last of his stock of weapons and handed them over for safekeeping to his regular customer and friend Ganpat S. Kharat, a Congress member of the State Legislative Assembly. Badge also had to dispose of his property in his native village, Chalisgaon. The deal had been fixed and Badge wanted to complete the formalities before leaving for Delhi.
In the meantime Nathuram had also arrived. He had gone to Shastra Bhandar looking for Badge twice. On his return that evening, Badge went to the Hindu Rashtra office and met Nathuram. Nathuram took out a small pistol and requested Badge to exchange it for a bigger and more effective gun. Badge had recently sold a .32 calibre revolver to Sharma, a member of the Hyderabad State Congress, who agreed to exchange his gun for a small payment. He also gav
e Badge four cartridges. The pistol was of .32 bore but the cartridges were of a slightly smaller calibre, most probably meant for a magazine loading gun. Badge was unaware of the mismatch.
At the Kirkee Arms Depot, Gopal Godse had put in another application for casual leave from 17 January till 23 January 1948. This time leave was sanctioned.
Gopal had promised his brother he would retrieve the military issue revolver he had hidden at their ancestral home in Uksan. Nathuram gave Gopal Rs. 250 for the gun and for his journey to Delhi, and told him to meet Apte and him at the Delhi railway station on the 18th. Gopal assured his brother that he would retrieve the revolver on Friday evening from Uksan he be in Bombay on Saturday in time to catch the afternoon Punjab Mail to Delhi.
The gang was now armed and ready to strike.
SATURDAY, 17 JANUARY 1948
In Delhi, Hindu and Sikh refugees and then Nehru, met Gandhi followed by Nehru, who implored him to give up his fast since the situation in the capital was rapidly improving. Gandhi told them not to be in too great a hurry. 'Whatever you do should ring true. I want solid work.'
That day Gandhi had received a telegram from Karachi. Muslim refugees, who had been driven out of their homes from Delhi, wanted to know if they could now come back and reoccupy their homes. 'This is the test,' Gandhi said on reading the telegram. His representatives fanned out with the copies of the telegram to every Hindu and Sikh refugee camp and explained to the people what they would have to do to make Gandhi break his fast.
By evening, 10,000 refugees had signed a declaration that they would welcome the Muslims, even if they themselves suffered Delhi's biting cold winter in ill-equipped refugee camps. They gave their full assurance to Gandhi that they would welcome the returning Muslims and would work for peace, goodwill and communal harmony. They pleaded with Gandhi to break his fast to save India from misery.
Lets Kill Gandhi Page 9