On Swami Shraddhanand’s murder, Gandhiji had said- I consider Abdul as a brother, will I advocate him? 

An infographic poster about Mahatma Gandhi is getting viral on social media. The infographic poster claims that Swami Shraddhanand’s assassin Abdul Rasheed was defended by Mahatma Gandhi by calling him “my brother”. The infographic also claims that Gandhi had also said that Rasheed had done nothing wrong. 

The infographic reads, “Mahatma Gandhi’s opinion on Abdul Rashid, who killed Swami Shraddhanand. He was assassinated on December 23, 1926, in Delhi. “Just because Muslims convert Hindus to Islam does not mean that Swami Shraddhanand should make those Muslims return to Hinduism. Abdul Rashid had to kill Swami to protect Islam. Abdul did nothing wrong. I consider Abdul as a brother. I will advocate on behalf of brother Abdul. It is wrong to mourn Swamy’s murder. ” 

Sharing this infographic, a user named Queen of Jhansi captioned – “Gandhiji’s thoughts”

Source: Twitter

Fact Check: 

To fact-check the viral claim, the DFRAC team did a simple search on Google. In this context, we found a video uploaded by historian Ashok Kumar Pandey on his YouTube channel “Credible History”. In this video, Ashok Kumar Pandey told that the website contains all the writings of Mahatma Gandhi.http://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/gandhi-literature/collected-works-of-mahatma-gandhi-volume-1-to-98.php section 1 to Section 98 is given.  

Ashok Kumar Pandey said that page number 434 of volume 37 starts with two telegrams. These are the telegrams to which Gandhiji replied after receiving this information (swami Shraddhanand’s murder). Gandhiji was on his way to Guwahati when Swami Shraddhanand was assassinated, where the annual congress session was to be held. In this session, Gandhiji paid tribute to Swami Shraddhanand and also said many things about him in his statement. 

Source: YouTube

Ashok Pandey, while giving details of the entire historical event in this video, says that Gandhiji had described Swami Shraddhanand as a martyr and a real hero. 

Conclusion:

It is clear from the fact check of DFRAC that the claim made in the viral infographic is false. Because Gandhiji never said that ‘I will advocate on behalf of  brother Abdul .’ It is wrong to mourn Swamy’s murder. ’