Once a pariah, the man who assassinated Gandhi is being idolized in India

Nathuram Godse, the man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, was for decades branded a terrorist. 

When a play about Godse was staged in the 90s, it was banned for glorifying Gandhi's killer.

But now, as Hindu nationalism reemerges in India, Godse is being celebrated by his supporters — including members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which would have been nearly inconceivable two decades ago according to Kapil Komireddi, author of Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India.

"This is how many people have felt for a very long time. It's just that there is now a climate in India in which you can openly express yourselves, express your bigotry," Komireddi told Day 6 guest host Peter Armstrong.

Gandhi, a lawyer, led a campaign that ultimately led to India's independence from British rule. While many celebrated his vision of a pluralistic India that welcomed all, Hindu nationalists saw him as a traitor to their goal for a de facto Hindu state, he explained.

Among those who opposed him was Godse who, on Jan. 30, 1948, assassinated Gandhi. The following year, Godse was sentenced to death and hanged.

"He saw Gandhi really as an embodiment of Hindu weakness, as a man who betrayed Hindus to appease Muslims," said Komireddi.

"And he wanted, by killing Gandhi, to effectively emancipate Hindus from that cultural condition, which made them surrender meekly to Muslims, as he saw it."

In January, Godse Gyan Shala, a library and "knowledge centre", was inaugurated by the Hindu nationalist organization Hindu Mahasabha in Godse's honour. A former member of the group, the library is just one of many tributes, including statues, to Godse across the country.

Growing support

While support for Hindu nationalism is not new, it has seen a resurgence in recent decades.

After Gandhi's death, Hindu nationalism was shunned but its supporters did not give up. They moved into villages and towns across India where the movement grew.

When the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed in 1980, it promoted Hindu nationalistic policies. At the time, the country was led by Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi, a member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

Komireddi described the family as a "spectacularly corrupt nepotistic enterprise" with no connection to Mahatma Gandhi and, consequently, the electorate was seeking change.

Thirty-four years later, in 2014, the BJP took control of the country with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at its helm. 

"The government today is not an aberration. It is very much the culmination of the struggle put in by the early pioneers of Hindu nationalism," said Komireddi. 

"Prime Minister Modi worships a man called [Vinayak Damodar] Savarkar, who is the father of Hindu nationalism and the mentor of Godse."

Savarkar was charged as a co-conspirator in the assassionation of Gandhi, but was later acquitted.

'A great deal of tolerance, acceptance'

Last May, Member of Parliament Pragya Thakur called Godse a "patriot" in an interview with news agency ANI.

Such praise of Godse is becoming more common — and accepted — today, says Komireddi.

"The prime minister expresses some sort of dissatisfaction with them and says, 'I'm going to distance myself from them,' but he doesn't really cut them off," he said. "So there's a great deal of tolerance [and] acceptance of this kind of veneration of Godse."

While Gandhi has been a respected figure for decades, Komireddi says that younger Indians do not fully understand his history. "He has become an idea who is to be venerated but never examined."

If India's prime minister were to publicly call Gandhi a "traitor" today, Komireddi believes it would go largely unnoticed — and his support, if he were alive, would suffer.

"If Gandhi were to run for office in India today, I don't think he would win office."

Written by Jason Vermes. Produced by Pedro Sanchez.