Godse’s ghosts

 

Asharam Bhakt woke up in his dream. A figure that looked supernatural and possibly divine in spite of its resemblance to Nathuram Godse said, “Who controls the past controls the future.” The apparition vanished instantly but Asharam found himself standing in the Ambala jail where Godse was being readied for his execution. Gandhi’s killer looked scared to death. Asharam could see Godse’s knees wobbling.

Is this the man who fired bullet after bullet into the frail body of a man who was uttering God’s name? Asharam wondered. Not that he had any sympathy for Mohandas Gandhi. On the contrary, he was an admirer of Godse and his advocacy of the Brahmin superiority. And all the more his hatred of Muslims. If Godse were alive today wouldn’t he be pleased to see how India has become the kind of nation that he wanted it to be: an exterminator of Muslims and slow killer of the low castes?

No, Godse says to Asharam. The executioner is getting the gallows ready yonder.

What! Asharam cannot believe his hears.

It was all mistake, Godse says. His voice cracks. Is it fear or regret that moves Godse now? Asharam is not sure. I was wrong, Asharam hears Godse clearly. I was driven by hatred. Gandhi was driven by love. I was wrong. Wrong.

The executioner drops a black cover on Godse’s head.

Asharam trembled in his bed. Was it really Godse that he saw? Or was it the ghost of the man whom Asharam and his friends had lynched the other day for taking his cow home in the evening? A roar of bulldozers followed. The heart of Delhi was being bulldozed by some ghosts of history.

PS. Inspired by Indispire Edition 379: Mr Bhakt wakes up in a dream. Who controls the past controls the future, he is told. He starts rewriting history... #TwistInHistory

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon.

Note: Not all of this is mere fantasy. Godse’s fear of death and the regrets in his last moments are recorded by none other than Justice Khosla who was part of the three-judge bench that heard the killer’s appeals. In Justice Khosla’s own words, Godse “repented of his deed and declared that were he to be given another chance he would spend the rest of his life in the promotion of peace and service of the country.”