Nathuram Godse's Hindu Mahasabha To Honour 'True Nationalist' Jamia Shooter

After the image of the 17-year-old Jamia shooter went viral on Thursday, a lot of people compared it to a viral image which supposedly shows Nathuram Godse with his gun, moments after he shot Mahatma Gandhi. (BTW, that image is from a 1963 British movie)

This was mostly due to the day on which the shooting happened outside Jamia - 30 January the same day in 1948 Nathuram Godse shot dead the Mahatma.

Godse was a member of Hindu Mahasabha, an extreme right wing outfit, which claims to be a nationalist organization but never took part in the Independence movement, and was openly opposed to some of the historic protests like the Quit India Movement.

The outfit which venerates Godse as a true nationalist and patriot considered Gandhi as a traitor and anti-national.

The fringe group has often made headlines for outrageous acts like reenacting the Gandhi assassination, celebrating Godse's birthday, building a temple for him and much more.

On Friday, the Hindu Mahasabha announced that it will felicitate the 17-year-old who was arrested by the Delhi Police a day earlier after he opened fire at students protesting against the CAA outside Jamia.

Calling him a "true nationalist like Nathuram Godse" Hindu Mahasabha spokesperson Ashok Pandey said the organization is "proud of the boy, who attempted to silence the anti-national activities on Jamia campus by giving the students there 'instant azadi'."

The outfit has also pledged to bear the legal aid to the accused.

He also justified brandishing a gun to "punish anti-national activities" and said that even the law makes a distinction between cold-blooded murder and someone eliminated in the best interest of the country.

He also added that all the "anti-nationals like Sharjeel Imam and the ones on the Aligarh Muslim University campus, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Shaheen Bagh deserve to be shot".

Last year, the Hindu Mahasabha had stoked a massive controversy on January 30 after videos and images of the outfit reenacting the assassination of the Mahatma went viral.

In the cringeworthy video, a woman Pooja Shakun Pandey, a top leader of the outfit which was founded by Savarkar and the first judge of the 'Hindu Court' was seen firing at an effigy of Gandhi. The video even showed fake blood oozing out of the effigy after it was fired at.

This is not the first time the notorious outfit has courted controversy. In the past, they have attempted to build a Godse temple in Gwalior and even install a statue of the Gandhi assassin on October 2, 2018.

In 2016, they had offered special prayers for Donald Trump who was then the US Presidential candidate because apparently, the former reality TV host bore a striking resemblance to Godse.

They have also been into moral policing on Valentine's Day and beat up and forcefully marry off lovers who were seen together on that day.