[Gandhiji's last journey : His funeral procession]

"..Hindu fanatic Nathuram Godse shot him dead as he was going to a prayer meeting. Gandhiji died instantly with the words ‘He Ram’ (Oh God).."

The Congress, which from the beginning stood for a united independent India, agreed to the partition of India, primarily because it felt that there was no other way to achieve freedom and prevent a further worsening of the situation. India became free on 15th August 1947. A separate state of Pakistan comprising West Punjab, East Punjab, Sind and Northwest Frontier Province was created. The Indian people after their century long struggle, had thrown out the foreign rule even though it happened in the midst of unimaginable tragedies.

Jawaharlal Nehru became the 1st Prime Minister of free India. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when 15th August dawned, India, as Nehru said, awoke to life of freedom. On the day India became independent, Gandhiji was in Calcutta which had been ravaged by communal rioting . He came to Delhi only after communal violence had ceased there on 30 January 1948, and Hindu fanatic Nathuram Godse shot him dead as he was going to a prayer meeting. Gandhiji died instantly with the words ‘He Ram’ (Oh God).

It was a strange story that the apostle of non-violence should have met a violent death. The bullets that passed through Gandhiji’s chest reverberated in millions of hearts. Gandhiji had fought communal fanaticism with all his strength while he lived. His death was finally to quench it. The Indian people who were just beginning to recover from the shock of the communal killings and destruction of the previous year were plunged into mourning. Jawaharlal Nehru said, ‘Light has gone out of our lives’. Gandhiji had been a source of inspiration to a world full of strife , a man who upheld truth and humanity above everything else. He had come to be known as the Mahatma to the people of India and the world. The Constituent Assembly began to function as the Parliament of Independent India. On 14th August, Jawaharlal Nehru in his address to the Assembly outlined the tasks that lay ahead before the Indian people. These were tasks of "ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity". He spoke of the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity. He called upon the people "to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell". The Indian people became masters of their own destiny. The task of building a new India began.