Madanlal Pahwa
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Madanlal Pahwa came to India as a refugee. The plight of refugees intensified his anger against Mahatma Gandhi and other Congress leaders. Madanlal was sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
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[edit] Early life
Madanlal Kishanlal Pahwa was born at Pakpattan in the district of Montgomery in India before partition. Pakpattan is now in Pakistan. After his matriculation he served in the Royal Indian Navy as a wireless operator. He was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1946 after end of the second world war. After the partition of India and Pakistan he came to India and settled at the Chembur Refugee Camp in Bombay. The main reason of coming to Bombay at that time was to find a job and during his tenure in the Navy he was stationed at Bombay. During that period most of the refugees were cursing Mahatma Gandhi and other Congress leaders for their plight.
[edit] Refugee in India
After many days of searching, he was unable to find a job. A friend at the refugee camp took him to one Dr. J. C. Jain. At that time Dr. Jain taught Hindi at Ruia College. He considered Dr. Jain as a surrogate father and used to earn commission by selling his books. He used to earn a 25% commission by selling the books. Madanlal found work in a licensed firecracker factory Messrs Vassen Puspasen and during this time he sharpned his skills on making grenades. During this period he came in contact with Dixit Maharaj brother of Dada Maharaj who was the head of a sect of affluent Hindus known as Pushtimarg Vaishanavas. He lived in a house in the precincts of the famous Bhuleshwar temple at Bombay. Madanlal lost his index finger while working at the factory. The finger had got caught in the gears of a turntable when his hand had slipped. His assistant had immediately stopped the machinery, but the finger was wedged between the teeth of two rotary wheels. However medical assistance was not sought.
There were half-made bombs lying all over the place. To send for a doctor would have been suicidal. So I picked up a knife and chopped the finger off. – As told to Manohar Malgaonkar in the book "The Men Who Killed Gandhi"
[edit] Contacts with Hindu Mahasabha
Madanlal came in contact with Vishnu Karkare of Hindu Mahasabha through Dada Maharaj. Madanlal started a fruit stall in Ahmednagar. His business was sponsored by Vishnu Karkare, whom he referred to as Karkare Seth. Mr. Karkare took Madanlal to Pune and introduced him to Narayan Apte and Nathuram Godse. Madanlal had already entered the police records for his pro-Hindu stance. He was kept under overnight detention for rushing to the podium and snatching the microphone from Congress leader Rao Saheb Patwardhan at Ahmednagar. The incident occurred on January 5, 1948.
On January 9, 1948, Inspector Razak recommended that both Madanlal Pahwa and Vishnu Karkare be arrested. However the warrants were issued only on January 12, 1948 and by that time they had left Ahmednagar to carry out their mission with other members for Delhi.
[edit] Attempt at Birla House, Delhi
On January 20, 1948 Madanlal Pahwa along with Vishnu Karkare, Shankar Kishtaiyya, Digambar Bagde, Gopal Godse, Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte came to Birla Bhavan in Delhi to carry out an attack on Mahatama Gandhi. Except for Madanlal Pahwa and Vishnu Karkare everyone reached the venue through the rear entrance in a cab. Surjeet Singh was the cab driver. Madanlal Pahwa tried to bribe the driver Choturam at Birla Bhavan to let him go behind the podium to take photographs of Mahatma Gandhi from behind him. However Choturam bacame suspicious and asked Madanlal Pahwa the need to take photographs from behind and non-existence of a camera. Madanlal Pahwa just went off, Choturam thought that he is going back to the taxi however he placed a cotton ball on the wall behind the podium and ignited it. The bomb went off without creating any panic. The team had left abandoning Madanlal Pahwa.
[edit] Trial
On interrogation, Madanlal Pahwa admitted that he was part of a seven member gang who wanted to kill the Mahatma. The plan was that Madanlal Pahwa would explode the bomb as close to the podium as possible and Digambar Bagde or Shankar Kishtaiyya would shoot Mahatama Gandhi, in the ensuing panic and stampede and use the chaotic situation to effect the escape. Vishnu Karkare was to compound the chaos by hurling hand grenades. However at the last minute Digambar Bagde decided not to act and also instructed Shankar Kishtaiyya to do so, who was his servant. The late start of the meeting, Choturam's cross questioning were the reason for this decision.
Later Madanlal Pahwa took the police to the Marina Hotel where Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were staying and also to Sharief Hotel where all the others were staying. Everyone had left by that time and the police was only able to recover some letters and clothes which had the initials "NVG" on it. By this time they were able to identify that the members of that team were from Maharashtra, however they were not able to identify Nathuram Godse
Madanlal Pahwa was identified by one Mrs. Sulochana Devi during the Mahatma Gandhi Murder trial, who had come to Birla Bhavan in search of her three year old son who used to play in the servant quarters. She was the fifteenth witness in the trial. Madanlal Pahwa was subjected to severe torture while in custody by the policemen, who were trained by the Britishers. His anger against the plight of millions of refugees was the main reason for his action.
Madanlal was sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, after serving the sentence Madanlal Pahwa lived in Dadar, Mumbai.
[edit] Statement under oath
...We walked night and day. There were men and women of all ages and all conditions. Many could not stand the strain. They-mostly women and children-were left on the road. I reached a place called Fazilka, in Indian territory, and discovered that another refugee column in which my father and other relatives had set out had fared much worse. They had been attacked by Muslim mobs on their way: Only 40 or 50 had survived out of 400 or 500 and even these were in hospitals. My aunt had been killed, more than a hundred girls were abducted, and my father rescued from a heap of the dead.
...While in Fazilka, we saw other refugee columns coming in; one of them he says was 'forty miles long', and in another marched " five hundred women who had been stripped naked.......I saw women with their breasts, noses, ears and cheeks cut........one of them told me how her child was roasted and she was asked to partake of the same.....another was ravished in the presence of her husband who was kept tied to a tree.
– Stated under oath by Madanlal Pahwa during the Mahatama Gandhi Murder Trial.
[edit] List of Accused
List of People accused in the attempt and assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
Main Article:Attempts to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi
- Nathuram Vinayak Godse
- Narayan Dattatraya Apte
- Vishnu Ramkrishna Karkare
- Madanlal Kashmirilal Pahwa
- Shankar Kistaiyya
- Gopal Vinayak Godse
- Digambar Ramchandra Badge
- Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
- Dattatraya Sadashiv Parchure
- Gangadhar Dandavate
- Gangadhar Jadhao
- Suryadev Sharma
