The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha on Thursday honoured Nathuram Godse, the man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi on January 30, 1948, at an event in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut, PTI reported.

Members of the Hindutva group gathered at the Amar Martyr Nathuram Godse Nana Apte Dham, to honour Godse for assassinating Gandhi.

The event organised by Mahasabha leader Ashok Sharma included a puja and a recital of the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu devotional hymn.

At the event, Sharma urged the Indian government to revoke Mahatma Gandhi’s “Father of the Nation” title and announced plans to honour the families of Godse and Narayan Apte, who was also linked to Gandhi’s assassination.

While Gandhi is widely called the Father of the Nation, he was never formally accorded the title by the Government of India and no rule or order was passed in this regard, the Centre had said in 2020.

In 2012, the Union home ministry had said that Gandhi cannot be formally given the “Father of the Nation” title because the Constitution does not permit titles except educational or military ones.

The Hindu Mahasabha celebrates November 15 as “Balidan Divas” each year to mark the hanging of Godse and Apte on November 15, 1949.

The ceremony on Thursday aimed at “removing the soul of Karamchand Gandhi” and eliminating “Gandhism” from India, PTI reported.

The Hindutva outfit holds Gandhi responsible for India’s partition.

In 2019, the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested Pandey and his wife after they enacted the assassination of Gandhi and celebrated his death anniversary as “Shaurya Divas” or Bravery Day.

In 2018, the organisation had urged Uttar Pradesh chief minister to rename Meerut to Godse Nagar in honour of Gandhi’s assassin.

Also read: Why did Nathuram Godse kill Mahatma Gandhi?