‘Hey Ram!’Not Gandhi’s last words but…!

These reports were carried in various newspapers in the year 2006

“हे राम !” या ” राम राम ”

Gandhi’s last words were ‘Ram Ram’: IPS officer
Naveen S. Garewal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 6 2006
Haryana IPS officer Rajbir Deswal, who worked at the Bureau of Police Research and Development, Government of India, has said Mahatma Gandhi died saying “Ram-Ram” and not “Hey-Ram” as is generally believed. He has based this on the FIR of the Mahatma Gandhi assassination case, registered with the Tughlak Road police station in Delhi.225px portrait gandhi YSJaa 16988

Mr Deswal said, “Having worked with the Bureau of Police Research, I had an occasion to see the FIR. According to the statement of Nand Lal Mehta, the person who got the FIR lodged and is taken at its face value. It reads “…. Mahatmaji Ram-Ram kartey huye peechhey gir gaye….”

He further said the world knows Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi uttered “Hey Ram”, and these words were also inscribed at Raj Ghat, where the Mahatma was cremated, but actually what he uttered was ‘Ram-Ram”.

He further said while “Hey-Ram” might be a human explanation of ‘Oh God, what has happened!’, yet “Ram-Ram” was the submission of a saint to the will of the Almighty (Oh God, in Thy will is my peace: Thy will be done!), he explained.

This he said not only brought out the logic behind the real utterances, but in a way confirmed the sagacity, sereneness of temperament and spirituality, the elements the Mahatma was made up of, said Mr Deswal.

A controversy of sorts had erupted on Mahatma Gandhi’s 58th death anniversary on January 30 this year when a former personal assistant, Venkita Kalyanam, now 83, said the Mahatma died without uttering a single word after Nathu Ram Godse shot him. Various people had since come up with different explanations, but the most plausible was the one based upon the FIR mentioned above.

A city based lawyer, Mr Guneet Chaudhary, had told some media persons on the basis a copy of the FIR with him that the FIR mentioned the names of Gandhi’s associates, sisters and a couple of employees who were present at the time of the incident, but there was no mention of Kalyanam.

The said FIR is dated January 30, 1948, and bears 9.45 p.m as the time. Lodged at New Delhi’s Tughlak Road police station, it is written by assistant sub-inspector Dhalu Ram and is based on the statement of Gandhi’s close associate Nand Lal Mehta.

The FIR reads, “…suddenly a man, who was later identified as Nathu Ram Godse, took steps out of the crowd and fired three shots at Mahatmaji. Bullets hit him on the stomach and chest. The Mahatma fell down saying Ram-Ram…”

Kalyanam’s presence at the scene was now being doubted and he was not even made a prosecution witness.

The Hindustan Times version here.

Also you can see it here.

Today's Top Articles:

Scroll to Top