#MahatamaGandhi's assassination by #NathuramGodse is seared into the planet's collective memory. What might be lesser known is that it was not some impulsive act but the last of several attempts. It was also an elaborate conspiracy, planned over several months...
[Thread (1/n) ]

Sources for this thread are
Report of the JL Kapur Commission that investigated the conspiracy involved in the assassination
Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase by Pyarelal (his personal secretary)
@TusharG's article at https://www.mkgandhi-sarvodaya.org/murder.htm 

25-06-1934
Poona: Unknown attacker, allegedly a Hindu militant, hurls a bomb at a car thought to have Gandhi in it
1st of many documented & undocumented attempts
5 were by the Hindu Mahasabha Poona branch
3 involved both N Godse & N Apte
Other attempts in 1944 & '46
(3/n)

Aug 1944
N Godse & Apte create the Hindu Rashtra Dal to implement those of Savarkar's plans considered too extreme for the broader Hindu Mahasabha organization. The Dal is commonly referred to as the Kesaris or Savarkarites to differentiate them from the Hindu Mahasabha
(4/n)

May 1947
Savarkar tells the Hindu Rashtra Dal that if the Hindu Mahasabha were to separate from the Dal, the latter should oppose the Mahasabha. He also declares "an eye for an eye" policy against Muslims.
(5/n)

Witnesses also told Kapur Commssn that a secret org allegedly led by Golwalkar (RSS Head)/Bhopatkar (Hindu Mahasabha President) was trying to overthrow the Indian govt. Militants were being trained in princely states: Alwar, Baroda, Bharatpur, Bhopal, Jaisalmer & Jodhpur
(6/n)

Oct 1947
Godse tells GV Ketkar (a Hindu Mahasabha leader) that he intends to kill Gandhi

GB Pant (UP PM) & LB Shastri (UP Home Minister) told tht RSS is arming & should be banned. Sardar Patel overrules as "Muslims are already against us & we don't want Hindus to be too"
(7/n)

Dec 1947
In a Hindu Mahasabha Poona meeting, Ketkar declares that "Gandhi-ism and False Nationalism" were the Mahasabha's Enemy No. 1
(7/n)

13-01-48
Gandhi begins a fast at Birla House that he says will end when a proper atmosphere of Hindu-Muslim amity returns to Delhi.
Opinions are divided on whether the fast was also to ensure Pakistan was paid its share of pre-partition RBI Reserves, frozen since Dec'47
(8/n)

14-01-48
N Godse & N Apte meet Savarkar in Bombay

15-01-48
GoI announces immediate payment of Pakistan's funds
Hindu Mahasabha is incensed
Delhi rallies by Hindus raise slogans "Marta hai to marne do" (if he wants to die, let him) & "Gandhiji ko marne do, Hum ko ghar do"
(9/n)

17-01-48
N Godse, Apte, D Badge & Shankar K meet Savarkar
Badge later testified that Savarkar told Godse "the 100 years of Gandhi are over" and "Achieve success and return"
N Godse & Apte fly to Delhi, stay at Marina Hotel.
(10/n)

18-01-48
A Delhi Peace Committee (inc RSS & Hindu Mahasabha representatives) pledges 4 specific assurances & Gandhi breaks fast
A subsequent Hindu Mahasabha meeting calls Gandhi a dictator who will meet the fate of Hitler & repudiates Hindus who were part of the committee
(11/n)

Some conspirators stay at the Hindu Mahasabha Bhavan (HMB). Some attend the 5PM prayer meeting at Birla House to reconnoitre
All the conspirators arrive by 19th Jan
(12/n)

19-01-48
Conspirators chalk out, in the morning, a plan for the assassination
N Godse, Karkare & Apte visit Birla House to survey grounds and police presence
Conspirators meet again at 10PM at HMB
(13/n)

20-01-48
Conspirators go again to Birla House
Return & test revolvers in the woods behind HMB
Meet at Marina Hotel to finalize plans
Madanlal Pahwa explodes gun-cotton slab at Gandhi's prayer meeting in Birla House; after arrest, is found carrying a hand grenade
(14/n)

N Godse, Apte, Badge & Shankar flee to Bombay
Gopal Godse stays overnight at Frontier Hindu Hotel
Pahwa interrogated, gives up name of Karkare and mentions stays at HMB & Marina Hotel

21-01-48
G Godse flees to Bombay

22-01-48
Badge & Shankar leave Bombay for Poona
(15/n)

23-01-48
Badge tells Ketkar that N Godse & associates were in Delhi to kill Gandhi

27-01-48
N Godse & Apte return to Delhi
A Hindu Mahasabha Delhi meeting demands that Gandhi & "anti-Hindu forces" should go to Pakistan. Slogans of "Madanlal [Pahwa] zindabad" raised
(16/n)

28-01-48
N Godse & Apte go to Gwalior, obtain a pistol and return to Delhi on 29th

30-01-48
N Godse practises shooting behind Birla Mandir
Assassinates Gandhi at 17:17 Hours
(17/n)

All this points to 1 conclusion (among others). The inheritors of the organizations & ideology that fuelled Godse's act pay lip-service to Gandhi as universal memory of him & Gandhian values constrains them currently.
(18/n)

They are easing Savarkar, already a Hindutva Hero, into the Indian pantheon - a big step in re-shaping India into Hindu Rashtra.

Nehru is anyway being marginalized thro' character defamation & more focus on Patel & Bose. Gandhi is next. This, a 2nd conspiracy, shd be resisted.