Twitter expressed shock, dismay and anger in reaction to a viral video that showed Hindu Mahasabha members in Aligarh firing an air pistol at a Mahatma Gandhi effigy on his 71st death anniversary on Wednesday.
Since then, it's been reported that a case was registered against 13 persons associated with the Hindu Mahasabha, including Pooja Shakun Pandey, a woman leader, according to Akash Kulhary, Senior Superintendent of Police in Aligarh. He said that no arrests have been made so far.
In the video, the participants of Hindu Mahasabha begin by chanting "Nathuram Godse amar rahe (May Nathuram Godse remain immortal)" and then fire air pistol shots at the effigy. Something like ketchup pours out of it. People surrounding the effigy can be heard urging Pooja Shakun Pandey to take two more shots. The effigy is then doused in kerosene.
Watch: Hindu Mahasabha recreates Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination; shoots Gandhi's effigy pic.twitter.com/jhCKmvjAMe
— Afroz Alam (@AfrozJournalist) January 30, 2019
News outlets shared pictures of Hindu Mahasabha leader Pooja Shakun Pandey sharing a dais with politicians like former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Minister Uma Bharti. They claim that the Twitter photos shared on March 19, 2017, have been removed now. The photos were later shared by student activist Shehla Rashid.
Pooja Shakun Pandey, the Hindu Mahasabha leader who recreated Gandhi's assassination by shooting at #Gandhi's effigy (and spilling mock blood), and also garlanded Gandhi's murderer Godse's photo, posing for pictures with top BJP leadership. #NotSoFringe pic.twitter.com/FZPYCfNZxS
— Shehla Rashid شہلا رشید (@Shehla_Rashid) January 31, 2019
Here are some social media reactions:
Why does @TimesNow call the Hindu Mahasabha a 'Hindutva fringe group'? Hindu Mahasabha is mainstream Hindutva, it was headed by Savarkar who coined the term 'Hindutva', and India's PM worships Savarkar who, also, was implicated in Gandhi's murder. The real Tukde Tukde Gang! https://t.co/d7ZVbOeQ0d
— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) January 30, 2019
Sedition charges, anyone? And where are those prime time howlers?
The Nation Surely Wants to Know!
https://t.co/JHGdyp404n— Umar Khalid (@UmarKhalidJNU) January 30, 2019
And in Aligarh UP they chanted “Mahatma Nathuram Godse Amar Rahe” after shooting the effigy of Mahatma Gandhi and distributed sweets.
Naya Bharat ! https://t.co/wawZyjFVo2— Jaaved Jaaferi (@jaavedjaaferi) January 30, 2019
This is what Modi has done to India in the last 5 years - A Mad Nation! https://t.co/JVP8ypXptB
— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) January 30, 2019\
Mahatma Gandhi was killed on Jan. 30, 1948, when he was shot three times by Nathuram Godse, who was later tried and hanged for his crime. Jan. 30 is as one of five days declared and celebrated as Martyrs' Day.
PM @narendramodi paying floral tributes to #MahatmaGandhi on #MartyrsDay at Gandhi Smriti in New Delhi. pic.twitter.com/UhBckFZ2SP
— PIB India (@PIB_India) January 30, 2019
Incidentally, for the first time, a small film shot on Feb. 12, 1948, which captures perhaps the earliest known immersion of Gandhi's ashes, is now available as a digitised-colour film on the website of the National Cultural Audiovisual Archives, an initiative of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts under the Ministry of Culture.
