Book Review: The Men Who Killed Gandhi
The Men Who Killed Gandhi, a gripping recreation of India’s partition, independence and Gandhi’s assassination on January 31, 1948, was first published during the Emergency years. “This made it incumbent upon me to omit certain vital facts,” Malgonkar writes in the introduction , “such as, for instance, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar’s secret assurance to Mr L B Bhopatkar, that his client, Mr V D Savarkar, had been implicated as a murder suspect on the flimsiest ground.” The excised portions, along with rare photographs and documents from the National Archives are included in this 11th edition. This book is a reprint of the 1978 original, timed for the 60th anniversary of the event, with some additions in the form of rare photographs and documents unearthed by the publishers and not the author Manohar Malgonkar, now 95 and a virtual recluse. His account of the conspiracy, 30 years after the event, was a landmark effort that cemented his reputation as a historian.
Of the six conspirators, Nathuram Godse, who fired the shot heard around the world, and Narayan Apte, who was by his side, were hanged. The other four were: Digambar Badge, who turned approver; Vishnu Karkare; Gopal Godse, Nathurams younger brother; and Madanlal Pahwa. Malgonkar met them after they had served their life sentences and they spoke to him at great length. All four provided information they had not revealed before and Malgonkar produced perhaps the most complete account of the plot to assassinate Gandhi.
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