Mahatma Gandhi Death Anniversary: Five assassination attempts on him before he was martyred

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi widely known as Gandhiji had been a target of five assassination attempts on his life before he was assassinated on January 30 1948 at the age of 78 in the compound of Birla House now Gandhi Smriti a mansion in central New Delhi by Nathuram GodseTeesta Setalvad a renowned journalist and hu man rights activist in her book ldquoBeyond Doubt A Dossier on Gandhis Assassinationrdquo has detailed all the five assassination attempts on Gandhiji the father of the nationAlso readMahatma Gandhi death anniversary Full text of Bapus inspiring speech on Quit India movementHere we list the five attempts on Gandhijirsquos life among which Godse participated in theeAttempt 1 June 25 1934According to the archival evidence conspirators bombed a car in Pune while Gandhiji was there to give a speech They thought he was inside the carIn his book ldquoMahatma Gandhi The Last Phaserdquo his assistant Pyarelal describes how the deaths of innocent people as a result of the bomb saddened GandhijiAttempt 2 July 1944Although the exact date of the second attempt on Gandhijirsquos life is not know it was when a group of protesters led by Godse in Panchgani caused commotion by yelling antiGandhi chantsGandhiji invited Godse for a meeting which he declined Godse was later seen charging towards Gandhiji during the prayer meeting with a dagger but he was luckily stopped by Manishankar Purohit and Bhillare Guruji of Satara Before the Kapur Commission both of them had provided testimony of this attackAttempt 3 September 1944The GandhiJinnah meeting was opposed by the Hindu Mahasabha Gandhiji was not permitted to travel to Mumbai for the meeting because Godse and LG Thatte picketed the ashram When Godse attempted to stab Gandhi the ashram residents stopped him the Kapur Commission had documentation of the confiscation of a daggerAttempt 4 June 1946 When Gandhiji was traveling in Gandhi special train to Pune another attempt to kill him was planned Thanks to the drivers competence Gandhi ji was spared even though the train had collided with the stones laid on the tracks between Nerul and Karjat stationAttempt 5 January 20 1948 A plan to attack Gandhiji was hatched at a conference held at Birla Bhavan To carry out the murder a meeting was scheduled to be attended by Madanlal Pahwa Nathuram Godse Narayan Apte Vishnu Karkare Digambar Badge Gopal Godse and Shankar Kistaiya They were meant to shoot after throwing a bomb at the podium Fortunately the plot backfired since Madanlal was quickly apprehended and recognised by Sulochona Devi Compiled from multiple sources