Gopal Godse

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A group photo of people accused in the Mahatma Gandhi's murder case. Standing: Shankar Kistaiya, Gopal Godse, Madanlal Pahwa, Digambar Badge (Approver). Sitting: Narayan Apte, Vinayak D. Savarkar, Nathuram Godse, Vishnu Karkare

Gopal Vinayak Godse ( गोपाळ विनायक गोडसे, ਗੋਪਾਲ ਵਿਨਾਏਕ ਗੌਡਸੇ )(c. 1919 - November 26, 2005), was one of the conspirators in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on January 30, 1948. He was the last one to survive and lived his last days in Pune, Maharashtra, India.

His brother, Nathuram Godse, was the triggerman, and was executed by hanging with co-conspirator Narayan Apte on November 15, 1949. Gopal was arrested on 5th of February from his house in Pune and was sentenced to 18 years for his part in the assassination. The three men believed that Gandhi had turned his back on the Indian Independence Movement, and that his actions led to the Partition of India which in turn led to the inflammation of sectarian strife between Pakistan's Muslims and India's Hindus. Gopal continued to hate Gandhi for the remainder of his life. In an interview in 1998 he reiterated that he never regretted Gandhi's killing. He hated what he called Gandhi's "appeasement" of Muslims.

According to Gopal what triggered the assassination was a bomb explosion on 20 January 1948 at Gandhi's prayer meeting in Delhi, just 50 meters away from Gandhi. The failed explosion for which Madan Lal Pahwa was caught, heightened the urgency-the Godse brothers wanted to finish it before the police caught them.

Gopal was a Hindu nationalist. He said that Gandhi never really said Hey Ram as he was dying and this was just a ploy of the government to prove that he was, indeed, a staunch Hindu who deserved to be elevated to sainthood. In an interview with Time Magazine he said, "Someone asked me whether Gandhi said, Hey Ram. I said Kingsley did say it. But Gandhi did not. Because that was not a drama."

He has admitted that at one point, Gandhi was his idol. He credited Gandhi for the mass awakening that he created and that he removed the fear of prison from the minds of Indians.

Gopal was born in Khed (now Rajgurunagar) in Pune district. His primary education began at Karjat in Raigad District, and continued at Ratnagiri. After his father retired, his family settled at Sangli in Maharashtra, and he passed the matriculation exam.

He worked as a volunteer for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Simultaneously, he worked for the Hindu Mahasabha as well, but without enrolling as a member.

When the World War II broke out, he joined the defense services as a storekeeper in the Indian Army Ordnance Corps in 1940. He opted for service on the front, and served in Iraq and Iran till April 1944.

After he returned, he was posted at Khadki and got married to Sindhu. They have two daughters, Vidyullata and Asilata. After Gopal was arrested, Sindhu supported her daughters by working in Gopal’s older brother, Dattatraya’s workshop called 'Udyam Engineering'. Later she set up a separate home and also started a small workshop of her own named 'Pratap Engineering'.

Godse was released from prison in October 1964, but was re-arrested a month later under the Defense of India Act and kept in prison for over a year. He was finally released at the end of 1965. He has written two books Gandhi hatya ani mee (Gandhi's Assassination and Me) Panchavanna Kotinche Bali (The sacrifice of fifty-five crores).

‡ – According to (supposedly) a copy of the FIR here [1] and its translation [2], Gandhi uttered "Ram, Ram" after being shot.