The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948 removed the foremost leader of Indian independence and shaped postcolonial India's political direction.
Key Facts
- Gandhi's age at death
- 78 years
- Assassin
- Nathuram Godse, Hindu nationalist from Pune
- Location
- Birla House compound, central New Delhi
- Bullets fired
- 3
- Godse and Apte executed
- 15 November 1949, Ambala jail
- Trial opened
- May 1948, Red Fort, Delhi
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Nathuram Godse, a right-wing Hindu nationalist with ties to the RSS and member of the Hindu Mahasabha, harbored deep opposition to Gandhi's advocacy for Hindu-Muslim reconciliation and his perceived concessions toward Muslims during the partition of India. These ideological grievances motivated Godse to plan and carry out the killing.
On 30 January 1948, as Gandhi walked toward the prayer-meeting dais in the compound of Birla House in New Delhi, Godse stepped from the crowd and fired three bullets into Gandhi's chest and stomach at point-blank range. Gandhi collapsed and was carried to his room, where he died. Godse was immediately seized by bystanders and handed to police.
The Gandhi murder trial opened in May 1948 at the Red Fort; Godse and his collaborator Narayan Apte were sentenced to death on 8 November 1949 and hanged on 15 November 1949, despite clemency appeals from Gandhi's sons. The assassination intensified scrutiny of Hindu nationalist organizations and profoundly influenced India's early political and communal landscape.