Gandhi and Godse - Dr. Koenraad Elst's book

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http://www.vedamsbooks.com/no25334.htm
http://www.indiaclub.com/Shop/SearchResults.asp?prodstock=8426

===================== Koenraad Elst's Book =====================
Gandhi and Godse : A Review and a Critique

Koenraad Elst.
New Delhi, Voice of India,
2001, 182 p., ISBN 81-85990-71-9.

Contents:
1. The murder of Mahatma Gandhi and its consequences.
2. Nathuram Godse’s background.
3. Critique of Gandhi’s policies.
4. Gandhi’s responsibility for partition.
5. Godse’s verdict on Gandhi.
6. Other Hindu voices on Gandhi.
7. Conclusion.
Bibliography.
Index.

"What remains of Nathuram Godse is the statement he gave in his own defence during the trial, on 8 November 1948. After the statement was read in court, its publication was prohibited. However, after the release of Godse’s accomplices from prison in the 1960s, translations in Indian languages started appearing, and in 1977, Nathuram’s brother Gopal published the English original under the cautious title May it Please your Honour.

A new edition, with a long epilogue by Gopal on the background and the events in prison, was published in 1993 under the more revealing title. Why I assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.

"To the best of our knowledge, no serious discussion of Godse’s speech has ever been published. For example, in spite of its title and project, B.R. Nanda’s book Gandhi and his critics does not even mention Godse, let alone his self-justification.

There is no such thing as a rebuttal of Godse’s argumentation against Gandhi, but there is no sympathizing commentary either. The Hindu Mahasabha has merely published the speech itself, and some eye-witnesses have laid down in writing their memories of the atmosphere in court when Godse spoke.

"Justice Gopal Das Khosla, one of Godse’s judges, and whose sympathies were certainly not with "Hindu communalism", has left us this impression: "The audience was visibly and audibly moved. There was a deep silence when he ceased speaking. Many women were in tears and men were coughing and searching for their handkerchiefs.

I have, however, no doubt that had the audience on that day been constituted into a jury and entrusted with the task of deciding Godse’s appeal, they would have brought in a verdict of ‘not guilty’ by an overwhelming majority."

"Nathuram Godse’s defence statement is a historical document, and it should be discussed fully and fairly, in its historical context." (jacket)

---------------------------------------------
Dr. Koenraad Elst is a noted Indologist associated with Delhi based Indian think-tank, Voice of India (www.bharatvani.org).

Dr. Koenraad Elst grew up in a Catholic family in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. After a brief juvenile flirt with Marxism he was drawn to exploring the spiritual domain, especially through Asian philosophies and disciplines like Aikido, Taijiquan and Yoga.

While doing research in Indian philosophy at Benares Hindu University, he started taking an interest in the ongoing Rushdie and Ayodhya controversies and the larger debate on secularism. He published several books on the historical Ayodhya file. He earned his doctorate in 1998 at Catholic University Leuven with a dissertation on the Ideological development of Hindu nationalism.

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