Who did Nathuram Godse assassinate in 1948?

Nathuram Godse assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in New Delhi on January 30, 1948.

Gandhi was 78 and was walking to an evening prayer meeting at Birla House when Godse approached him and fired three shots at close range. Gandhi died shortly afterward. The assassination shocked India less than six months after the country became independent and was partitioned into India and Pakistan.

Godse was a Hindu nationalist who had been associated with the Hindu Mahasabha and had earlier links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He blamed Gandhi for what he viewed as excessive concessions to Muslims and opposed Gandhi’s efforts to reduce communal violence and support fair treatment for Muslims after Partition.

Godse was tried with other conspirators. He and Narayan Apte were sentenced to death and executed in 1949, while several others received prison sentences. The event is sometimes described simply as Gandhi’s death, but it was an assassination carried out as part of a political conspiracy, not a random attack.