On the evening of 30 January 1948, as the setting sun cast its final golden hues over Birla House in New Delhi, Mahatma Gandhi, the frail yet indomitable architect of India’s independence, walked towards his evening prayer meeting.
Clad in his simple dhoti, he greeted those around him with folded hands when Nathuram Godse, a staunch Hindu nationalist enraged by Gandhi’s advocacy for communal harmony, stepped forward, bowed, and then fired three fatal shots at point-blank range.
As Gandhi collapsed to the ground, his final words—"Hey Ram"—resonated in the silence that followed, marking the end of an era and plunging the newly independent nation into shock and mourning.
The man who had led millions with his doctrine of non-violence fell victim to the very hatred he had sought to eradicate, leaving behind a legacy both immortal and contested in the annals of history.
