On what would have been his 150th birthday, the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi were reportedly stolen from the memorial in central India where they have been kept since he was assassinated in 1948.
As the BBC reports, photographs of the Indian independence leader were also vandalized, with “traitor” scrawled across them in green paint. Some Hindu hardliners believe Gandhi, a Hindu himself, betrayed them by advocating for Hindu/Muslim unity.
“I opened the gate of the Bhawan early in the morning because it was Gandhi’s birthday,” Mangaldeep Tiwari, caretaker of the Bapu Bhawan memorial, told Indian website The Wire. “When I returned at around 11 p.m., I found the mortal remains of Gandhi missing and his poster was defaced. This is shameful.”
Gurmeet Singh, leader of the local Congress political party, called for an investigation of the crime. “Gandhi’s ideology has been shamed again,” he said. “This unlawful act must have been done by the followers of Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse. This madness must stop. I urge Rewa police to check CCTV cameras installed inside Bapu Bhawan and nab the accused.”
Gandhi was shot by Godse, a Hindu nationalist, on Jan. 30, 1948. Godse was found guilty of the assassination and executed in 1949. Gandhi’s birthday, Oct. 2, is celebrated as a national holiday called Gandhi Jayanti in India.
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