The Hindu : National : Forgotten gardener who pinned down Nathuram Godse

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Monday, Oct 04, 2004

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National

Forgotten gardener who pinned down Nathuram Godse

KENDRAPARA, OCT. 3. As the nation paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary yesterday people in the obscure coastal village of Jagulaipada of Orissa's Kendrapara district marked the occasion by hailing Raghunath Nayak. Raghunath who ? People outside the village might ask. Very few outside this coastal district know of Raghunath's valour on the fateful day when the Mahatma fell to assassin's bullets. Raghunath, who worked as a gardener in Birla House in Delhi, ran after a man who had fired the fatal shots at the Father of the Nation, grappled with him and pinned him down on January 30, 1948. The man -- Nathuram Godse was arrested because the gardener had risked his life to chase him. Though history seemed to have completely written off Raghunath's feat, around 100 residents of this village continue to treasure his memory on this day and on Martyrs' Day on January 30, the day Gandhiji died. Raghunath breathed his last on August 13, 1983. The villagers have formed a committee to pay tribute to the man on both occasions and hold prayer meetings after garlanding the portraits of both Gandhiji and Raghunath.

"It is a fitting tribute to the son of the soil on at least two solemn occasions in a year. Observance is simple and symbolic and is appreciated by all," Subhransu Sutar, a local journalist who has been participating in the event said. "Raghunath not only went unnoticed during his lifetime but also remained unsung even after his death," he said. Raghunath's widow Mandodari, who is leading a difficult life in the village, recounting the incident said she was then living in the house allotted to her husband when the tragedy struck. "I would have preferred widowhood then if Mahatmaji's life could have been saved," she said. Mandodari gets a meagre pension of Rs. 25 for the service rendered by her husband and is now a broken woman since her son Bidyadhar, a driver in the police department and sole bread-earner of the family, died in a road mishap a few years ago. ``My husband used to serve goat's milk to Gandhiji,'' she recalled with a tinge of pride and broke down while recounting Raghunath's association with Bapuji.

The then President of the country Rajendra Prasad had sent Raghunath a letter appreciating his act of valour and to date it remains the sole piece of recognition the man ever received. Mandodari still treasures the letter dated February 1, 1955, as a prized possession in a rickety box. The tehsildar of Rajkanika, Brahmananda Behera said a simple but colourful function was organised in the village yesterday in which the involvement of the residents was spontaneous. A sizeable number of children also joined their elders in paying floral tributes to the Mahatma and their local hero. "I reckon it a privilege to participate in such an event," he said. A proposal to install busts of both Mahatma and Raghunath in the village was under active consideration of the district administration to treasure the man's valour for posterity, Mr. Behera said.

-- PTI

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