Since Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was elected five and a half years ago and reelected, Hindu nationalism has started spreading across India. Evidence comes from the recent worship of Nathuram Vinayak Godse, the man who assassinated Gandhi, by a group of Hindu nationalists in Meerut. Much of the hatred for Gandhi comes from him allowing the partition of Pakistan and being too lenient with Muslims living in India. While some Hindu nationalists invoke Gandhi, they are co-opting his message for their own gain. One example of this is a recent law on citizenship by Mr. Modi's government, said to discriminate against Muslims and threaten the secular state that Gandhi had envisioned.
Meanwhile, over a dozen statues of Gandhi's killer have been erected and many Hindu temples are being converted to Godse temples. Just last year, the government of Uttar Pradesh State, led by a fiery Hindu monk, proposed changing Meerut to Godse City. Recently, vandals connected to right-wing groups have defaced pictures of Gandhi, attacked memorials to him and written the word traitor across his picture. A statue of Gandhi was decapitated in June 2019. Technology has only made the spread of this ideology more far reaching.
Ms. Pandy, leader of the Meerut branch of Hindu Mahasabha:
“Our hero stopped Gandhi’s poison from spreading in this pure land...If I was born before Godse, I would have shot Gandhi myself.”
Gandhi's Killer Evokes Admiration as Never Before
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