Gandhi did not say Hey Ram when shot

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Gandhiji was at Hill Cart Road near Kak Jhora with Anne Beasant and Deshbandhu Chitranjan Das in 1925. The Toy Train track runs alongside the road, and a hand-driven rickshaw is behind it. 

(c) Fallen Cicada - Unwritten History of Darjeeling Hills by Barun Roy

pic: beacononline.wordpress

 

The latest issue of The Week, dated December 27, 2009, had something stored for me. The national magazine's cover story was “Myths of Our Time,” which had a few stories webbed around our cultural and social beliefs, but there was little truth in them. One article excited me the most; it was the sole reason I put my hand forward when I saw it hanging in one of the shops in Gangtok. The story's headline read, “Gandhi did not say Hey Ram when shot.” 

The story was against the belief of Gandhi's followers that it spread to every corner of the globe. But the fact remains strong that Gandhi did not utter anything when he was shot by Nathuram Godse with a 9 mm Beretta on January 30, 1948. There was no official record of what had happened when he was fired or after an hour of the incident. I checked the internet sources, and even those people present at the time of the incident deny the fact that they heard Gandhi uttering any words before he was shot dead. It was nothing more than Gandhi's devotion towards Lord Ram and his vision of Ram Rajya that designer Vanu Bhuta got "Hey Ram" inscribed on the slab at Rajghat. 

Mahatma Gandhi never visited Sikkim as no documents supported it, but he visited Darjeeling in 1925. But Gandhi did have a connection with Sikkim. He was associated with Helen Lepcha, a freedom fighter from Sikkim who had then settled at Darjeeling. It was Gandhi who transformed Helen’s name into Savitri Devi. 

A few years back, the Rangpo Guest House was made the winter home of the Governor of Sikkim. I have heard about letters sent by Gandhi at Rangpo Guest House, then just a Rangpo Dak Bungalow.  But later, nothing was heard of, but I believe the letters are still there, and the ‘person’ wants to sell them off. History is more of a myth, but it is up to us to give it a distinct shape rather than make it a fabled tale. 

My motive behind this particular article is to make the people of Sikkim aware that certain incidents in Sikkim, too, have been immortalized and have been an integral part of our social and cultural identity. 

Still, their real truths need to be revealed. The stories of the brotherhood treaty at Kabi, the ladder story of Daramdin, the genealogy of the Chogyal Dynasty, and many others need to be thoroughly researched before we give them accurate data. Let’s not take anything for granted. Sikkim, too, needs to be studied.