Misery stalks family of man who caught Godse

Misery stalks family of man who caught Godse
ASHIS SENAPATI

KENDRAPARA, JULY 21: Me Nathuram Godse Boltoi (I, Nathuram Godse speaking), the controversial Marathi play that kicked up a political furore a year back, inadvertently pitchforked a minor character into prominence. Raghu mali, grappled with Godse and pinned him down after he fired the lethal shots at Mahatma Gandhi at Birla House. Unfortunately, Raghu remained ignored all his life till the play brought his memories back.

Many people who saw or read the play were curious about Raghu and his family. It was too late by then. Raghu Nayak was no more there to narrate the tragic moment in Indian history. He died at 72 on August 13, 1983, years after his retirement, at his native Jagulaipada in Rajakanika block of Kendrapara district.

``Raghu worked as a mali at Birla House in Delhi, the residence of Mahatma Gandhi at the time. He also served goat milk to the Mahatma,'' says Mandodari, widow of Raghu Nayak, who spent many years with her husband at Birla House and now lives in Rajkanika with her daughter.

``My husband treated the Mahatma with utmost devotion,'' she adds with a tinge of pride and breaks down while recounting her experience with Gandhiji.

But Raghu's devotion was not recognised by anybody. After retirement, he returned to his village and died in abject poverty. His family continues to struggle for a living, with the sole bread-winner being his son, Bidyadhar, who is a driver with the Orissa Police and is posted at Jeypore at present.

Raghu was getting a paltry Rs 50 as pension before his death in 1983 and afterwards, his widow got only Rs 25 a month as family pension from the Birla company.

``This certainly is not the country of our dreams.. I call it injustice,'' says Mandodari, who finds her monthly pension of Rs 25 ridiculous.

The President of India's letter to Raghu, praising him for having nabbed Godse, along with a grant of Rs 500 for his feat, were the only tokens of recognition that Raghu ever received.

Mandodari still treasures the President's letter dated February 1, 1955, in a broken wooden box. Last year, Mandodari developed a tumour that had to be surgically removed and she had to sell her jewellery to pay for the operation.

She also had to run from the pillar to the post to obtain a loan of Rs 20,000 to repair her husband's rickety thatched house which was damaged in the super-cyclone. She also pleaded with sundry political leaders for help, but they all turned a deaf ear.

Residents of Raghu's village say it is unfair of the nation to have totally ignored and written off Raghu whose act of heroism on that fateful day of 1948 finds mention in the book Mahatma Gandhi -- The Last Phase, written by the Mahatam's private secretary, Pyarelal.