Talk:Mahatma Gandhi/Dying words controversy

message: Gandhiji Dosen't Said Anything
== Dying words ==
I think the section on his dying words  should be held in abeyance till this issue is resolved.
Pizzadeliveryboy 18:47, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Not necessarily; we simply need to report on the controversy in a fair and neutral way. — goethean ॐ 18:53, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

text: Where is the controversy? The man who was there said the words were not spoken. I think that should seal the debate once and for all, and relegate all talk of his dying words to the trash can of urban legend. - Pizzadeliveryboy 19:01, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

message: :::quoting the section dealing with controversy-at the time of 
 hate comments:
:::It is widely believed that Gandhi's last words (Hé! Rama) were as much an homage to God as they were an inspiring signal of his spirituality and idealism regarding the possibility of a unifying peace. However, the veracity of this claim has never been truly verified, with new claims from one of his personal attendants (Venkita Kalyanam, who was standing behind Gandhi when he was assassinated) actually alluding to the fact that Gandhi died without mentioning the words which have been widely ascribed to him, and made immortal by the inscription on his Samādhi at Rāj Ghāt, New Delhi. 183.87.234.211 (talk) 16:04, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
thread_title: article text

message: ::the link cited above by Pizzadeliveryboy leads to a small article in a newspaper which says about what kalyanam said in kerala on 2006 jan 30: following that and probably based on that article alone yesrterday onwards several edits and reverts on the assasination section... Kalyanam , was the resident of Tenampet Chennai some years ago  , in some get together /interview categorically said that Gandhi did not utter any word at the time of assasination and he was by the clise to Gandhi.
::the above news article's major flaw seems to be that the reporter seems to think that it is for the first time kalyanam has said so. even if the reporter didn't think so, the wiki article at time of comment(quoted above) says, "new claims"
::whereas the external links section of present wiki article contains a link to a detailed writeup published as early as 2001, 
::anyone interested in the controversy please read that article before editing further, in case you don't have access or time for other resources for research.
::and if you don't have time for reading that long write-up, here's quoting from relevant section of it:
::: Yet Gandhi’s former "aide", V. Kalyanam, who claims to have been by his side when the assassination took place, recalled recently that "Mahatma Gandhi never said ‘He Ram’ when he died. It was a fiction of the imagination, of those who came later." Kalyanam admits that Gandhi often said, "I wish I could die with the name of Ram on my lips", but he denies that these words were uttered by Gandhi as the bullets struck him. (7) Kalyanam could not have been very close to Gandhi, however, since Manu and Abha were on either side of him; in the days following his last fast, moreover, Gandhi’s voice was very faint, and he was certainly further away from Gandhi than the two young women who became known as his walking sticks. Kalyanam’s testimony also stands contradicted by Manu and Abha, as one might expect. It is not unimportant that, though describing himself as an "aide" to Gandhi, Kalyanam is not mentioned in any of the noted, or even minor, biographies of Gandhi; indeed every modern-day politician has an aide, but Gandhi cannot be assimilated to the creatures who inhabit the world of modern politics. Neither is there any independent verification of Kalyanam’s whereabouts on that fateful evening.
::where source (7)is cited as : (7) "Gandhi did not say ‘He Ram’ when he died", Indian Express (Chennai), 19 Feb. 1998, a similar report citing kalyanam's words. i don't know anything about kalyanam, i assume good faith as regards what people several generations old tell.
::and the content of that quoted write-up regarding the politics of the statement is quite well researched, good reading for anyone interested.  -Pournami 07:03, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: kalyanam and the news article