Veteran freedom fighter Bhiku Daji Bhilare popularly referred to as Bhilare Guruji, who is credited in certain accounts with having saved Mahatma Gandhi from an attempt on his life by Nathuram Godse in Panchgani in 1944, passed away in Bhilar near the hill station on Wednesday. He was 98.
In interviews given to several writers that have been published in the form of small booklets, Bhilare had said, “Everyone was allowed to attend Mahatma Gandhi’s prayer meetings in Panchgani. That day, his associates Usha Mehta, Pyarelal, Aruna Asaf Ali and others were present for the prayers. Godse rushed up to Gandhiji with a knife saying that he had some questions. I stopped him, twisted his hand and snatched the knife. But Gandhiji let him go.”
According to records kept by Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi, Godse was overpowered by Bhilare and Manishankar Purohit, proprietor of a lodge.
However, in the opinion of the Kapur Commission, “the correctness of the incident of July 1944 and even its existence is unproven.”
In fact, when Purohit deposed before the commission, he said the incident happened in July 1947 and not 1944; there is no mention of Bhilare appearing before it. The commission, incidentally, referred to only a disturbance created by a group of men during a prayer meeting in July 1944 in Panchgani.
The commission of Supreme Court judge J K Kapur was set up on March 22, 1965, to probe the conspiracy behind Gandhi’s assassination. Shortly after his release from the Aga Khan Palace where he was incarcerated in 1944, Gandhi contracted malaria and had gone to Panchgani to take rest on his doctor’s advice.
In 2008, Dhirubhai Mehta, president of the Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya in Mumbai said that one of the Godse brothers” had tried to attack Gandhi at Panchgani in July 1944 and that the “attempt was thwarted by an alert youth”. Mehta had said this fact has been documented in the memoirs of Gandhi’s close associate Pyarelal.
It also finds mention in a book written by another Gandhian, Chunilal Vaidya, Mehta had said.
N D Patil, veteran freedom fighter and senior Peasants and Workers Party leader, who is in his 90s, said that Bhilare had become a hero for youths like him in those days. “The news of Guruji saving Gandhiji from Godse spread everywhere in Satara. I was 15 then. Many of us students went on our cycles to meet Guruji. He had become an icon for us. He lived a simple life throughout and followed Gandhian principles,” he said.
Born on November 26, 1919, Bhilare was active in the “parallel government” movement in Satara district run by revolutionary Nana Patil and others.
After Independence, Bhilare represented Jawali assembly constituency in the state legislature for 18 years.
Sikkim governor and former Satara MP Shrinivas Patil, who hails from Satara and was close to Bhilare, said, “He was a guiding light and a veteran freedom fighter who always kept Gandhiji company. Bhilare Guruji played a great role in shaping my career.”
Bhilare was cremated on Wednesday with leaders from across party lines and common people gathering in huge numbers to pay their last respects.
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