‘Ideology of hate’ consuming India, says Gandhi’s great-grandson
- Author and social activist Tushar Gandhi attributes shift to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party
- Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse is revered by many Hindu nationalists and activists have campaigned to honour him
Gandhi was shot dead at a multi-faith prayer meeting on January 30, 1948, by Nathuram Godse, a religious zealot angered by his victim’s conciliatory gestures to the country’s minority Muslim community.
Godse was executed the following year and remains widely reviled, but author and social activist Tushar Gandhi, one of the global peace symbol’s most prominent descendants, says his views now have a worrying resonance in India.
“That whole philosophy has now captured India and Indian hearts, the ideology of hate, the ideology of polarisation, the ideology of divisions,” he said at his Mumbai home.
“For them, it’s very natural that Godse would be their iconic patriot, their idol.”
Modi took office in 2014 and Tushar says his government is to blame for undermining the secular and multicultural traditions that his namesake sought to protect.
“His success has been built on hate, we must accept that,” Tushar added.