Partition of India having been conceded, on 15.8.1947 the British rule came to an end. and the two Dominions, India (truncated) and Pakistan took shape. There was large scale migration of population with untold violence, murders, looting, rape and what not. The sufferings of the refugees in general and Hindus in particular presented a sorry sight, and here every action of Gandhiji was pro-Muslim and anti-Hindu. The integration of States was to take place. With Nizam of Hyderabad, the things were far from smooth and Kashmir was under attack.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was then the Deputy Prime Minister of India. The payment of the cash balance of Rupees fifty five Crores due to Pakistan at the time of the partition of India was one of the major issues under discussion and negotiations with Pakistan. The issue was inevitably linked with Pakistan's aggression on Kashmir. In the statement made by Sardar Patel before the press conference on 12th January, 1948, he had put Corward India's case in unequivocal terms. He said: We were therefore fully justified in providing against aggressive actions in regard to Kashmir by postponing the implementation of the agreement. The agreement does not bind the Government of India to any fixed date for payment Pakistan would not be justified in any way in insisting on our paying the cash balances. I made it quite clear then that we would not agree to any payment until the Kashmir affair was settled. Thus payment of Rupees fifty five Crores to Pakistan was sought to be withheld by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel until the Kashmir issue was settled.

There are two ways to extinguish fire: One is to throw water on it and the other is to cut off supply of substances that feed it. Our army was trying its level best to halt the invaders in Kashmir and to drive them away.This war of strategy in financial transactions by the Government of India (withholding the payment) was as valuable, for it was necessary to keep off material likely to serve as fuel from reaching the fire. In these circumstances, decision of the then Government of India to withhold payment of Rs.55 Crores until the Kashmir issue was settled was commendable. It was a far-sighted remedy to stop bloodshed immediately and establish peace. Two decades later, the march of the Indian army to Lahore to ward off the invasion of Pakistan on Kashmir under the guidance of Shastriji's Prime Ministership was as timely as it was commendable.

In those hectic days, Gandhiji was staying in the very city of Delhi. The high-ups in the Government of India used to meet him and discuss with him political issues. Gandhiji did not approve of this decision of the Government of India. Gandhiji felt that in blockading Pakistan in this way India was deviating from his path of Ahimsa. On 12.1.1948 Gandhiji threatened the Government that until they reversed their aforesaid decision and paid the money to Pakistan, he would go on hunger strike. A suggestion is obtainable from a portion of Gandhiji's sermon delivered on the 12th of January, 1948, that he had tried to persuade the Government of India to revoke this decision, but he failed. He had said: But a time comes when a worshipper of Ahimsa is forced to start fast in order to express his opposition to any injustice to the society. He does so because he being a worshipper of Ahimsa has no other course open to him. Such a critical moment has come for me.

Sardar Patel's firmness must have forced Gandhiji to utter such despairing words. On the other hand, Sardar Patel did not like Gandhiji's resolve to go on hunger strike. So Maulana Azad has said in his book. Sardar Patel left Delhi On 13.1.1948 Gandhiji began his fast. The net result of Gandhiji's fast was that about the 17th of January, the Government gave in and agreed to pay the money to Pakistan, thus bringing to an end Sardar Patel's policy for Kashmir.The Government of India issued a press note (on or about 17th January 1948) which runs as follows:

In view of the appeal made by Gandhiji to the nation the Government has decided to remove the one cause of suspicion and friction between the two States which consistently with national honour and national interest is in their power to remove.

They make this spontaneous gesture in the earnest hope that it will help in producing an atmosphere of goodwill for which Gandhiji is suffering crucifixion of the flesh and thereby lead this great servant of the nation to end his fast and add still further to his unparalleled services to India. The Government has decided to implement immediately the financial agreement with Pakistan in regard to cash balances. With all this overflowing generosity and goodwill from the Indian Government the Pakistani heart did not melt. The Kashmir problem continued.

Nathuram Vinayak Godse and Narayan Dattatraya Apte were running a daily by the name 'Hindu Rashtra', which was old 'Agrani' but in a new garb. From prior to 15.8.1947, as the foreboding signs of the creation of a Muslim State founded on communal principle on the very Indian soil were becoming manifest every day that passed, the editorials of this newspaper began to be more and more pungent and critical. There were even orders of forfeiture of the two security deposits of Rs.3,000/- each.

On seeing the news item on the teleprinter on 12th January, 1948, that Gandhiji was to start his fast, it was clear to Nathuram Godse that this act was contemplated to bring pressure on the Government of India to reverse their decision of withholding the payment of fifty-five crores of rupees. By that time his embittered feelings about Gandhiji and his continued anti-Hindu role reached its point of culmination. As soon as he read the news item on the teleprinter about Gandhiji's fast Nathuram must have thought that all other plans should be set aside, that care had to be taken to see that Gandhiji did not interfere with the democratic working of the Government, that for that sake the task of assassinating Gandhiji should be taken up first and that everything of his should be staked for it, because according to Nathuram it was a problem of life and death for the nation.

On 20 January, 1948 a bomb had exploded at Gandhiji's evening prayer near the very prayer ground. Madan Lal Pahwa was apprehended on the spot on the day. He was one of the Hindu sufferers of partition. The police got information that Madan Lal had other accomplices in the plot, that the plan did not work and that his co-conspirators had fled. As a consequence, the Government reinforced the police force and security measures at the Birla House. The police spread a net all over India, to apprehend others. The police could however make no progress in apprehending others within the next ten days. And then, on 30.1.1948, at five past five in the evening, when Gandhiji, accompanied by a paraphernalia, was reaching the prayer ground situated in the compound of Birla House, Nathuram Vinayak Godse fired three shots at point blank range. Gandhiji with a faint 'ah', possibly as a reflex action of muscles, fell to the ground. He went unconscious instantaneously and breathed his last some twenty minutes later. Nathuram after firing shots raised his hand with the gun and called for the police. He voluntarily surrendered to the authorities.

From the very beginning, Nathuram Godse was fully conscious that after the assassination of Gandhiji at his hands political powers of the day would append to him all sorts of attributes, such as fanatic, maniac, lunatic and many others. That is why he earnestly wished it to be officially recorded by the concerned authorities at the very moment that he suffered from no such malady, mental or physical, that his mental state did not conform to any definition of mental distortion, disease or aberration. The request made by Nathuram to the doctor who was brought to examine him soon after his arrest following the assassination of Gandhiji was: After his surrender and arrest, Nathuram was kept for some time in the police lock-up at Tughlaq Road and thereafter he was taken to the police custody at Parliament Street. Along with the authorities some other people also came to look at him Nathuram was pacing to and fro in the lock-up, but some times stood near the bars. Catching the sight of one individual he stood near the bars, and asked him: You are Shri Devadas Gandhi, I suppose. Yes, but how did you recognise me? was the counter-question by that individual. He had perhaps come there expecting to find some horrid- looking, blood-thirsty monster, without a trace of politeness. Nathuram's gentle and clear words and his self-composure were quite inconsistent with what he had expected to see. We had come together very recently in a press- conference. You'd come there as the editor of The Hindustan Times. And You?

I am Nathuram Vinayak Godse, the editor of a daily 'Hindu Rashtra'. I too was present there. Today you have lost your father and I am the cause of that tragedy. I am very much grieved at the bereavement that has befallen you and the rest of your family. Kindly believe me. I was not prompted to do this with any sort of personal hatred, or any grudge or with any evil intention towards you.

Seeing that a man, the blood-stains on whose death- dealing hands had not yet dried up, was talking to him in such a calm and balanced way and in a manner in which a third party may speak, Shri Devadas Gandhi's curiosity was aroused. There was nothing unnatural if he were to feel intense contempt for his father's assassin. If he had that feeling, at least he did not show it then, and brushing aside for a moment his personal sorrow for his father's demise, asked Nathuram, 'Then, why did you do it?' Nathuram replied, 'The reason is purely political and political alone. Would you listen to me for half an hour or so? Kindly ask for the officer's permission. As you are an editor you will soon understand the background." The police did not allow further talk.