Nearly 9,300 Tweets Hailing Nathuram Godse Trend On Gandhi Jayanti

More than 9,300 tweets have trended the hashtag #नाथूराम_गोडसे_जिंदाबाद (Nathuram Godse Zindabaad or "Long live Nathuram Godse) in support of him today on Gandhi Jayanti, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Though this hashtag has been used throughout the course of the year, 9,305 tweets have been used today on October 2. 75 tweets used this hashtag on October 1.

These tweets praised Godse - the man responsible for assassinating Gandhi on January 30, 1948 - as a freedom fighter and hero. Godse, a Hindu extremist, was an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and Hindu Mahasabha.

Though the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its top leadership venerate Gandhi, the ideological right and their supporters profess their admiration for Godse.

The number of tweets used during 2021 can be found below.

Tweets praising Godse can be found below.

Some users praised Godse for apparently saving Hindus by assassinating Gandhi.

Some users also used the hashtag to claim that Indians were celebrating former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri over Gandhi. The two freedom fighters share the same birth anniversary.

A few users shared memes based on the hashtag while some condemned Godse as India's first terrorist.

Godse believed that Gandhi favoured India's Muslims, and blamed him for India's partition. He was quoted telling the court proceedings over his trial that Gandhi bought ruination to millions of Hindus.

The court found him guilty and was hanged on November 15, 1949.

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