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ELECTIONS '98
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The Rediff Special/Pradeep Dalvi'The next moment I fired at Gandhi'
January 30, 5.00 PM (Birla Bhavan. DCP Arjundas and a servant appear on the stage.) Servant: No. Bapuji cannot spare any time now. He will be late for his evening prayers. Arjun: I know. But I have come because the work is important. In fact it is to do with Bapuji's prayers. Gandhi: (Enters) Who is it, Mahadevbhai? Servant: Somebody to see you. I told him, you are getting late. Gandhi: Who are you? Arjun: (Salutes) I am DCP Arjundas, Bapuji... Gandhi: We have met before... Wait a minute, don't tell me ... let me recollect. Yes, when Jawahar had come to Hyderabad, you were with him. Arjun: (Smiles) Your memory is fantastic. You were very weak at that time. Gandhi: It is the body that becomes weak. But fasting sharpens of the mind. Why have you come today? For prayers? Arjun: Yes. I want to request you to let me accompany you for the prayers... Gandhi: Anybody can attend my evening prayers. How can I refuse you? Arjun: Okay then. I will be with some of my ... Gandhi: But not in these uniforms. Not with the revolver in your waistband. Arjun: But Bapu ... Gandhi: Why do you need the revolver? Arjun: For your protection. Gandhi: If somebody attacks me, you will shoot him with this revolver. Kill at the time of prayers? Arjun: But Bapuji, if somebody attacks you ... Gandhi: He is welcome. I don't mind my own killing, but I don't want anybody to die just for saving my skin. Arjun: Panditji sent me. I am his bodyguard. Gandhi: Then what are you doing here? Go, guard his body. Arjun: Panditji said he had spoken to you, Sardar Patel also talked to you, but you are adamant in this matter. Today the intelligence bureau sent this file to Panditji. He has asked me to show it to you. Bapuji, you need protection. Gandhi: I don't need protection. Arjun: Bapuji... How can I convince you? Can you see the crowd gathered outside? One of them might be a killer, your killer. All the people attending the prayers are not devotees. Gandhi: No. Only devotees attend the prayers. Arjun: But those who threw a bomb here on January 20 were not devotees. The bureau has cracked down on them. Madanlal and Shankar Kistaiyya. They are talking. They are workers of the Hindu Mahasabha. Bapu, that bomb blast was not an accident. It was sabotage, it was an attempt on your life. Gandhi: The Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League ... I don't differentiate between them. Arjun: They don't understand it. Gandhi: You are wrong Arjun: When I started the fast, both Hindus and Muslims put their weapons down. Arjun: Bapu, a bullet does not differentiate between a commoner and a saint. Gandhi: But the trigger-puller knows the difference. Arjun: The refugees are furious. They hold you responsible for their massacre. The Hindu Mahasabha claims you are responsible for Partition. These handful of people are conspiring to assassinate you. It is dangerous to move around among the people at the time of prayers. Can you stop the prayers for a few days? Gandhi: You want me to stop my prayers? It has never happened before. I did not let it happen. Be it imprisonment, detention, fasting or sickness ... I never let anything stand between me and the prayers. Kasturba was serious when prayer-time approached. I started getting up from her bedside. She held my hand, pressed it. I waited ... Ba slowly slipped into death. I got up and went for my prayers first, and then I mourned for my Ba. And today you want me to discontinue the prayers... for my life? Arjun: But your life we need Bapuji.. all of us. That day you waited for some time for Kasturba, now for the sake of all of us wait for some days. If you want, let us pray here... You, Mahadevbhai myself, Panditji, we all will join the prayers... here.
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