Why are some people celebrating Godse and Abraham Lincoln's killer?
Dilip D'Souza
dil...@gmail.com
April 14th this year will mark 150 years since the
assassination of Abraham Lincoln. You will find
one measure of the lasting impact this American
President had not just on his country, but on the
world, at my alma mater, BITS Pilani. On an
exterior wall of the Birla temple on the campus are
carvings of several inspirational figures: Marie
Curie, Socrates, Gandhi and more -- and Abraham
Lincoln. In his own country, of course, Lincoln
invariably ranks near the top of most Americans'
lists of their best Presidents.
So it comes as something of a surprise, then, that there are
actually Americans who despise the man and all he stood for.
One set of these comprise an organization called the League
of the South. Headquartered in the Alabama and with chapters
across the American south, the League is dedicated to the
"survival, well-being and independence of the southern
people". It believes these "southern people" must secede from
the US, and seeks to eventually create "a free and
independent Southern Republic."
As these things go, the LotS is also known, and watched, as a
White supremacist hate group.
On their website earlier this month, the LotS announced
[http://leagueofthesouth.com/honoring-john-wilkes-booth569/]
that it had plans to "celebrate", on April 14th, "John Wilkes
Booth's execution of the tyrant Abraham Lincoln." The League,
the announcement continued, "thanks Mr Booth for his service
to the South and to humanity."
What's to be said about this glorification of a
President's assassin? That it's startling,
disturbing and hard to believe, sure. But it's
also a reminder that a lot of people hold views
that many of us would find repugnant. Yet to those
people, these views speak of a definite patriotism.
Of "service to humanity", even.
Are there parallels in India? Note the Hindu Mahasabha's
plans to install statues of Nathuram Godse in temples last
January 30, commemorating his murder of Mohandas Gandhi on
that day in 1948. One report quoted a Mahasabha member
saying: "We have a dedicated set of youths who are brimming
with nationalistic fervour and who are ready to put Godse
statue at the Raj Ghat."
Now Gandhi himself might have suggested that they direct
their brimming fervour to tasks India needs tackled: like
educating Indians, or cleaning up the country, or providing
Indians reasonable health care. Such is, after all, the hard
work that legions of real Indian patriots do. But that must
be too hard for these particular youths. They would rather
celebrate the murderer of a defenceless man and call that
"nationalistic fervour."
Or there's the Central Sikh Museum in Amritsar's Golden
Temple. One wall in there has portrait of various martyrs,
including Shahid Bhagat Singh, who shot dead British police
officer John Saunders in 1928. To his right is a painting of
the damage caused to the Akal Takht during Operation Blue
Star in 1984. These lines are beneath:
"Under the calculated move of Prime Minister of
India Indira Gandhi, Military troops stormed Golden
Temple with tanks. Thousands of Sikhs were
massacred. Sri Akal Takht suffered the worst
damages. Sikhs rose up in a united protest. Many
returned their honours. Sikh soldiers left their
barracks."
And this final ominous note: "The Sikhs, however, soon had
their vengeance."
To the right of that painting, three more portraits, exactly
like Shahid Bhagat Singh's. These labels identify them:
"Shahid S Beant Singh Ji, 1949 to 31 Oct 1984."
"Shahid S Satwant Singh Ji, 1967 to 6 Jan 1989."
"Shahid S Kehar Singh Ji, 1940 to 6 Jan 1989."
You know those dates. You know those names. Up on this wall,
the men who killed Indira Gandhi. Accorded the same
reverential title, "Shahid", that a country uses for Bhagat
Singh.
Now I believe a vast number of this country's myriad
intractable problems can be laid at Mrs Gandhi's door. It's
why I have zero respect for her. But even so, when Satwant
Singh and Beant Singh shot her dead, she was India's Prime
Minister. So to see her killers accorded the same reverence
as Bhagat Singh -- to see Mohandas Gandhi's murderer
worshipped, as well -- is to ask some troubling questions
about nationhood. About India itself.
And in the USA, the LotS raises much the same questions when
it venerates John Wilkes Booth.
Whether here or there, how will they find answers?
--
Dilip D'Souza is an US-educated engineer-turned-writer. His
recent book is titled 'Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar'
(Random House). Twitter: @DeathEndsFun Blog:
http://dcubed.blogspot.com
First published in Scroll.in http://is.gd/xJ2A1s
