All language subtitles for Infamous Assassinations s01e21 Mahatma Gandhi

January 30, 1948.

The Burla House, Delhi.

One of the most iconic figures in 20th
century history walks to his regular

evening prayer meeting.

As he gets to the end of this path, a
man steps out of the crowd.

Three shots ring out.

The father of Indian independence
collapses.

Why would anyone want to shoot him?

Just as his greatest dream has been
realized.

January the 31st, 1948, Delhi.

The day after being felled by an
assassin's bullet, Mohandas Gandhi, the

Mahatma, the Great Soul, is cremated.

It is just five months since his life's
work, the independence of the Indian

subcontinent from British rule, has been
achieved.

But Gandhi is only one of millions to
die violently, for the way this freedom

gained has stirred up virulent hatreds.

It is a fanatic of his own religion who
kills him, and the rage which drives

this assassin springs from deep in
Indian history.

When Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is born
in 1869, the British have effectively

controlled the Indian subcontinent for
more than a century.

But behind the glittering facade of the
jewel in the crown of Queen Victoria's

empire Demands for home rule are
growing, and India remains a patchwork

political and religious tensions.

Hinduism is a religion of three quarters
of the population, with Islam the

second most numerous faith.

But there are also Sikhs, Parsis,
Buddhists, Christians, and scores of

sects.

Gandhi is born near the top of this
teeming pyramid.

His father is first minister of one of
the semi -independent princely states,

and his mother is a devout and high
-caste Hindu.

She imbues her son with ideals of
pacifism and the sanctity of all life.

After studying law in London, Gandhi is
offered a post in South Africa.

There he is shocked by widespread
racism.

He soon becomes one of the leaders of a
movement to improve the rights of the

Indian community.

December 12, 1911, Delhi.

The accession of King George V as
Emperor of India is celebrated by a

magnificent Durbar.

But the following year, the fragility of
this empire is shown.

While Delhi is being consecrated as the
capital of India, a bomb is thrown at

the Governor General, Lord Hardy.

It wounds him and kills an aide.

Gandhi speaks out against the use of
violence.

In 1915, Gandhi returns to India.

He finds the British Raj just as
repressive as in South Africa and soon

the Indian Congress Party, the focus of
demands for Indian independence.

Another member of the Congress Party is
the Muslim lawyer Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

He is also a member of the Muslim
League, which had been founded in 1906

defend Islamic interests.

At this stage, both religions envisage a
single, independent India.

Gandhi also begins organizing strikes
and protests by poverty -stricken

against their rapacious landlords, but
insists that these must remain peaceful,

and non -violent.

April the 19th, 1919, Amritsar.

British troops open fire on a crowd
protesting illegally but peacefully in

central square, the Jallianwala Bagh.

In the panic, 379 are killed and 1 ,200
seriously injured.

There is widespread outrage across India
and demands for violent action.

Gandhi remains adamant that only
peaceful methods of protest should be

But he is now convinced that the British
must be forced to leave India.

His ideas cause a break with Jinnah, who
quits the Congress Party.

It is an early hint of the splits which
will bedevil the quest for Indian

independence.

Gandhi soon becomes the effective leader
of the Congress Party.

He is determined to show the British how
non -violence can win India its

independence.

November 1921, Bombay. A ceremonial
visit by the Prince of Wales gives

opportunity to publicise his campaign
against one of the injustices of the

the import of foreign goods,
particularly British cloth.

While the crowds are cheering the
prince's arrival, Gandhi lights a

imported cloth and clothes.

The police move in and break up the
demonstration violently.

Gandhi follows this with a campaign of
non -cooperation.

British courts, government offices and
educational institutions are boycotted

and British titles and honours rejected.

March the 10th, 1922.

Gandhi is arrested for sedition.

He cheerfully pleads guilty and is
sentenced to six years in prison.

He's released after two, following an
operation for appendicitis.

While he is in prison, the Congress
party splits.

Ominously, a rift is opening between
Hindus and Muslims over whether to use

non -violent tactics.

Gandhi works hard to reunify the
independence movement.

He continues to speak out against
British rule, while insisting, not

successfully, that only non -violent
methods should be used.

December 1928, Calcutta.

Gandhi pushes a resolution through the
Congress Party, calling on the British

grant India dominion status.

or face a new campaign of non -violence
with complete independence as its goal.

The British ignore the demand.

January 26, 1930, Lahore.

The Indian National Congress meets to
celebrate India National Day.

The die has been cast, and Gandhi soon
follows up this announcement with direct

action.

March 12, 1930, Ahmedabad.

Gandhi starts a major campaign of civil
disobedience by beginning a 248 -mile

march to the sea.

April 6, Dandi.

He and thousands of supporters gather
salt in contravention of the law that

can only be bought from a government
monopoly.

The British reaction is extreme.

with the imprisonment of 60 ,000 people.

Another ominous development is that
while Gandhi's campaign of civil

disobedience is dominating the
headlines, the Muslim League first

a separate Islamic state might be
necessary when independence is achieved.

May 5, 1930, Delhi.

Gandhi is again arrested for sedition,
but released in March 1931.

to represent the Congress Party at a
roundtable conference on Indian self

being held in London.

On his arrival in Britain, clad in his
usual loincloth and shawl, Gandhi stays

in the poverty -stricken East End,
because he says that he prefers living

his own kind.

But the result of his mission is deep
disappointment.

Gandhi finds himself confronted by a
Muslim delegation, which demand separate

Muslim provinces and separate elections
for purely Islamic seats in any

legislature.

There is little progress towards self
-rule.

Nevertheless, Gandhi remains adamant
about his ultimate objective.

My speech at the roundtable conference
has been all officially reported.

Call that as you like. It is complete
independence that we want.

On his return to India, Gandhi announces
the resumption of civil disobedience.

The British react swiftly.

January the 4th, 1931, Bombay.

Gandhi is rearrested, and over the next
two months, more than 30 ,000 of his

followers are also in prison.

During his time in prison, and after his
release in 1933,

Gandhi is increasingly sidelined, and
the campaign of civil disobedience

out.

June the 25th, 1934, Pune, near Bombay.

But it is during this period that the
first attempt to assassinate Gandhi is

made.

While travelling to deliver a speech,
Gandhi's car is separated from its

at a level crossing.

The escort reaches the venue first, and
a bomb is thrown at it.

Ten people are injured, but it is never
discovered which of his enemies is

responsible.

In October 1934, Gandhi quits the
Congress Party after a disagreement over

whether it should take part in
constitutional discussions with the

The leadership passes to his disciple,
Jawaharlal Nehru.

Gandhi retires to an ashram to dedicate
himself to the spiritual life.

Meanwhile, the British government
introduces the Government of India Act.

This gives considerable powers to
democratically elected provincial

In the first local elections in 1937,
Congress triumphantly takes control in

eight of the eleven provinces.

The Muslim League dominates the other
three.

Unfortunately, Congress refuses to
consider any sort of coalition with the

Muslims in areas where they have
considerable support.

Jinnah and other Muslim leaders turn
increasingly to the idea of a separate

state.

September 2nd, 1939, Delhi.

As Britain declares war on Nazi Germany,
India's Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow,

immediately announces, without any
attempt to consult the Indians, that

also at war.

Nehru and the Congress Party are
outraged.

They announce that unless Indian
independence is promised once victory

achieved, they will withdraw from all
cooperation with the war effort.

Gandhi goes further, declaring that
India should not take part in a war

supposedly being fought to save
democratic freedom when that freedom is

denied to India.

The British refuse to respond, and
thousands of Indian troops go overseas

fight loyally in the Middle East.

December 8, 1941, Malaya.

The situation changes dramatically as
Japanese troops invade.

They are soon sweeping the British back.

January 15, 1942, Burma.

The Japanese blitzkrieg bursts into a
second British colony.

Once again, the British forces are soon
in headlong retreat back to the Indian

border.

January 31, 1942, Singapore.

British forces humiliatingly surrender
their great fortress to the Japanese.

Their colonial empire in the Far East
seems on the verge of collapse.

Desperate to shore it up, the British
government sends a mission headed by a

senior Labour politician, Sir Stafford
Cripps, to India, with a new offer.

Independence will be possible after the
war, provided Congress now backs the war

effort.

Gandhi immediately declares that he will
never approve anything which supports

war and that talks break down.

August 8, 1942, Delhi.

Gandhi calls on the British to quit
India and announces another campaign of

civil disobedience.

The next day, he and all leading
Congress politicians are imprisoned.

The civil disobedience campaign swiftly
turns into widespread rioting and

sabotage. The British respond with force
and crush the rebellion by the end of

September.

Ominously, Jinnah and the Muslim League
refuse to become involved in the Quit

India movement.

In 1940, they had reaffirmed their
commitment to an independent Muslim

be called Pakistan.

Now they are ready to wait and see how
matters develop.

May the 6th, 1944.

Gandhi falls ill with malaria.

Fearful that his death in prison might
provoke fresh rioting, the British

release him.

Concerned to maintain a united front
with the Muslim League, Gandhi attempts

win Jinnah over to the idea of a
referendum about a separate Islamic

India has achieved independence.

But Jinnah insists that the decision
must be made before the British leave

the talks break down.

Gandhi again retires into private life.

June 1945, Delhi.

With Germany defeated and the Japanese
driven out of Burma, Lord Wavell, the

Viceroy, releases the remainder of the
Congress leadership.

He then calls a conference in Simla to
discuss the formation of a new executive

council as the first step towards an
independent India.

Gandhi is present, but the conference
ends when it becomes evident that Jinnah

and the Muslim League are determined to
achieve their own independent state.

July 1945, London.

The sweeping victory of the Labour Party
in the British general election makes

it clear that Indian independence will
soon come.

But the rift between Hindu and Muslim
politicians in India is becoming

unbridgeable, and vital decisions cannot
be postponed any longer.

March 1945, Karachi.

A British cabinet mission arrives to
discuss independence.

Gandhi resists any suggestion the
provinces might be grouped into

blocs and the talks soon break down.

By now, the widespread knowledge that
independence is only a matter of time

seen an upsurge in violence between
Hindu and Muslim extremists.

In an attempt to break the deadlock...

British Prime Minister Clement Attlee
decides to replace Wavell with a younger

and hopefully more flexible and
persuasive Viceroy, Admiral Lord Louis

Mountbatten, the head of Southeast Asia
Command during the war.

March 24, 1947, Delhi.

Mountbatten is sworn in as Viceroy.

During a brief speech... He shocks India
by announcing that power will be

transferred to an independent state by
April 1948, just 14 months away.

Mountbatten now plunges into discussions
with the Indian political leaders.

He and his wife Edwina swiftly establish
good relations both with Nehru and

Gandhi. But the cold, austere Jinnah is
a different matter.

No amount of charm and persuasion can
lessen his determination to achieve an

independent Islamic state.

Meanwhile, the inter -religious rioting
is getting worse.

Partition is the only answer.

The majority of Muslims support Jinnah
in his insistence on a separate state,

but many Hindu nationalists are
vehemently opposed to a partition of

Prominent among these is Vinayak
Savakar, leader of the Hindu Mahasabha

which had been founded in 1911 to
protect Hindu national interests.

Mountbatten and Edwina are swiftly able
to persuade Nehru to accept the idea of

partition.

Their charm offensive on Gandhi finally
makes him realize that he must abandon

the dreams of a lifetime and see his
country split in two.

But Gandhi's change of heart is seen by
many Hindu extremists as a gross

betrayal.

June the 3rd, 1947, London.

Prime Minister Attlee announces that
British India will be divided into the

independent states of India and Muslim
Pakistan.

And that this will happen not in a
year's time, but in just 14 weeks.

Mountbatten has insisted that if
partition is to occur, it would be best

were done quickly.

Very quickly.

The news intensifies the unrest in the
subcontinent as what would today be

called ethnic cleansing begins on a huge
scale.

Millions of Hindus and Muslims living on
the wrong side of the new borders leave

their homes and flee, taking what little
they can.

Rioters encourage them to go.

Bandits attack them as they are on the
move.

More than a million people are killed in
the horror.

It is even worse than Gandhi had
imagined possible.

He works to try to prevent Hindu -Muslim
riots and killings as the midnight of

independence approaches.

On the day of partition, he is in
Calcutta, trying to quell disturbances.

The speed at which partition has been
imposed means that many decisions about

the precise line of the border are left
pending.

Within weeks, war breaks out between
India and Pakistan over Kashmir and

disputed territories.

And India's refusal to pay Pakistan its
share of the treasury reserves.

January 13, 1948, Delhi.

Gandhi makes himself even more unpopular
with Hindu extremists when he announces

a fast unto death if the Indian
government will not pay Pakistan what it

The government gives way, pays the
money, and agrees to a truce with

This is the moment when two members of
the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, Nataram

Godse and Narayam Apte, decide that
Gandhi...

must die.

The two men are running an ultra -Hindu
nationalist newspaper in Pune, near

Bombay, the city where Gandhi had been
imprisoned.

Both are involved in protest
demonstrations against Gandhi.

January the 20th, 1948, the Burla House,
Delhi.

At the house where Gandhi usually stays
when he is in the capital, a small bomb

explodes without doing any harm while he
is holding an audience.

Godsey and Apte are amongst the crowd.

January 29, 1948, Delhi.

Godsey and Apte return, having bought a
Beretta semi -automatic pistol and seven

rounds of ammunition.

On the following day, Godsey and Afty go
to the Burla house for Gandhi's regular

evening prayers.

As usual, a crowd is gathered by the
dais at the end of the garden at which

prayers are said.

Gandhi is adamant that entry must be
open to anyone who wishes to attend.

Supported by two of his human walking
sticks, Gandhi leaves his room and sets

off across the lawn.

As he reaches the crowd, Godse steps
forward and then shoots him three times

the chest.

As he collapses, Gandhi is said to have
gasped, Rama.

Godse does not attempt to flee and is
arrested on the spot.

His accomplice Apti is arrested later
and put on trial with Godse and five

others, including Godse's brother Gopal
and Savakar, the leader of the Hindu

Mahasabha.

Godse's only defense is that he had been
outraged by Gandhi's decision to help

the Muslims and agree to partition.

After an eight -month trial, he and Apti
are condemned to death.

Savakar is released for lack of
evidence.

while the others are imprisoned for
life.

November the 15th, 1949, Delhi.

Godsey and Apte are hanged at dawn.

Gandhi had been cremated on the banks of
the river Jumna the day after his

assassination.

Over the next half century, India and
Pakistan fight two more conventional

and come to the brink of a nuclear
exchange.

Whether a united India would have proved
any less dangerous to the peace of the

region will never be known.

But Gandhi's ideals of peaceful
coexistence and pacifism had been

history well before the fanatics of his
own religion caught up with him.