BHOPAL: Undeterred by Prime Minister

's condemnation of

BJP candidate Pragya Thakur's praise of

, Hindu Mahasabha plans to celebrate his 110th birth anniversary on May 19 - the final day of voting in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls - and is sculpting a new bust of Gandhi's killer to rebuild the 'Godse temple' in Gwalior.

Gwalior holds the key to the best kept secret behind Bapu's murder. The Beretta pistol used to kill the Mahatma had changed many hands in Gwalior before it was passed to Godse for the assassination, but investigations remained inconclusive on its origin and ownership.

Leaders of the Right-wing Hindu nationalist outfit told TOI that they will install a new bust of Godse to rebuild the 'temple' since the old one was confiscated by the administration two years ago and is still in police custody.

‘Building temple without govt nod an offence’

The 32-inch metallic bust was seized from Hindu Mahasabha’s Gwalior office on November 22, 2017, by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. Building a temple without permission from the government is a cognisable offence under Madhya Pradesh Sarvajanik Sthan (Dharmik Bhawan Evam Gatividhiyon Ka Viniyaman) Sanshodhan Adhiniyam, 2001. “It was seized in BJP regime. We made several correspondences with the state government to get it back, but in vain. The new bust is being made,” said Jaiveer Bharadwaj, Hindu Mahasabha’s national vice-president. He plans to inaugurate the temple on November 15 — the day Godse was hanged in Ambala Jail 70 years ago — to observe it as ‘Balidan Diwas’.

Godse has resurfaced in the dying days of Lok Sabha election following actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s alleged statement on May 12 that “free India’s first terrorist was a Hindu.”

Asked for her reaction to this, Pragya said on May 14 that Godse “was a deshbhakt, is a deshbhakt and will remain a deshbhakt”. She was followed by two other BJP leaders who retracted their statements when the BJP leadership condemned it. BJP president Amit Shah has asked all three for an explanation within 10 days.

Jaiveer Bharadwaj told TOI on Friday: “Kamal Haasan should have studied history before making such comments. Also, there is nothing new in what Pragya has said. We have been telling this for years. There should be a temple for Godse and we will build it.” Hindu Mahasabha celebrates January 30, the day Gandhi was assassinated, as Shaurya Diwas. TNN