The proposed staging of the play ‘I Am Nathuram Godse’ in Ahmedabad has been cancelled after protests by the National Students’ Union of India and the Youth Congress, extending a controversy that has already led to the cancellation of shows in Rajkot and Jamnagar.
The play was scheduled to be performed on February 9 at the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Auditorium in the Bodakdev area of Ahmedabad. Organisers decided to cancel the show after protests intensified in different parts of the city and concerns were raised over law and order.
Sources associated with the organisers said that nearly 75 percent of the tickets had already been sold online, with ticket prices set at Rs 275.
Congress workers and NSUI activists staged demonstrations on Sunday in areas such as Bodakdev and along Sindhu Bhavan Road. Protesters raised slogans against Nathuram Godse, wrote messages on public walls saying the play would not be accepted in Gujarat, and carried out symbolic acts such as defacing pictures of Godse with black ink.
Gujarat Congress spokesperson Parthivrajsinh Kathwadia said the play was unacceptable in a state closely associated with Mahatma Gandhi.
“How can a play based on Godse, the assassin of the Father of the Nation, be allowed in Gandhi’s birthplace and workplace?” Kathwadia said. “Gujaratis and Gandhians will never accept this insult to Mahatma Gandhi.”
He said that the people of Gujarat had rejected Godse’s ideology, which was why performances in Rajkot and Jamnagar were stopped and the Ahmedabad show was also cancelled. “For Gujarat and for India, Godse will always remain a villain. Mahatma Gandhi was, is and will always remain the hero for the country and the world,” he said.
Congress leaders warned that the performance would not be allowed to go ahead if it was staged in the city and said they would continue to oppose any attempt to present Godse’s ideas through cultural platforms.
The controversy began on February 7 in Rajkot, where a performance of the play was disrupted after Youth Congress and NSUI workers allegedly entered the venue, vandalised stage property and forced the show to stop. Police detained around 40 Congress workers following the incident. After this, scheduled shows in Jamnagar were cancelled, followed by the Ahmedabad performance.
Following the backlash, the play’s director Bharat Dabholkar and producer Sejal Penter said the production does not glorify Nathuram Godse and has been misunderstood.
“When Gandhi was assassinated, Nathuram Godse’s court confession was censored by the government. This play is based on historical records and court statements,” Dabholkar said. “In the play, Godse himself says that because he killed Gandhi, he does not deserve to live and that he should be hanged. We are not supporting murder in any form.”
Dabholkar said the play shows that Godse claimed to admire Gandhi’s principles and that the script reflects what was said during the trial. “We have only shown what Nathuram said in court. We are not justifying his actions. I also respect Gandhiji,” he added.
Producer Sejal Penter said the play has been performed in Marathi for over 25 years and has also been staged in Hindi, English and Gujarati over the past one and a half years. She said around 50 shows have been completed in Mumbai, and the play has also been performed in cities such as Kolkata, Pune, Delhi, Udaipur, Surat, Vadodara and Bhavnagar.
However, Congress state president Amit Chavda questioned how permission was granted for such performances in Gujarat.
“This is Gandhi’s Gujarat,” Chavda said. “The world respects Gandhi for his message of truth and non violence. It is shameful that a government linked to the RSS allows plays that portray Godse in a sympathetic light in the state of Mahatma Gandhi.”
