Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday called BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur a ‘terrorist’ after she had allegedly praised Nathuram Godse by calling him a patriot.
Reacting to Sadhvi Pragya’s alleged praise of Nathuram Godse in the Parliament on Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi said, “What she is saying that is the heart of the RSS and BJP, what can I say? It cannot be hidden. I don’t need to waste my time demanding action against that woman.”
In a tweet later, Rahul Gandhi wrote, “Terrorist Pragya calls terrorist Godse, a patriot. A sad day, in the history of India’s Parliament.”
Terrorist Pragya calls terrorist Godse, a patriot.
A sad day, in the history of
India’s Parliament.— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 28, 2019
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur joined the BJP formally early this year. The NIA had given her a clean chit in the Malegaon Blasts case in 2016 after years of brutal torture in prison. Widely believed to be one of the victims of the Congress party’s attempt to invent Hindu Terror, Sadhvi Pragya was granted bail in April 2017, eight long years after she was jailed. Her legal representative said in an exclusive interview to OpIndia.com that she should have been granted bail in half an hour based on the circumstances of the case. We were further told that there was no credible evidence against her.
Read: Sadhvi Pragya should have got bail in half an hour: Senior advocate who fought her case
A controversy has erupted over the alleged remarks made by Bhopal MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur after she had referred to the Nathuram Godse, the assassin of MK Gandhi as a “deshbhakt” (patriot) during a debate in Lok Sabha.
Sadhvi Pragya Thakur’s response came after DMK member A Raja had cited a statement of Godse on why he killed MK Gandhi during a discussion on the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill. Responding to Raja, Thakur had reportedly interrupted to say, “You cannot give the example of a deshbhakt.”
The statements made by Sadhvi Pragya Thakur triggered an outrage in the Parliament on Wednesday. Opposition members of the Lok Sabha protested against Pragya Thakur’s remarks, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said only the DMK leader’s speech during the discussion on the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill will go on record.
Later, Thakur had clarified that she was referring to Udham Singh when she made the statement.
“The topic that was discussed was of security and A Raja spoke about ‘deshbhakt’ Udham Singh. He said that Udham Singh nursed a grudge against General Dyer of Jallianwala Bagh massacre for 20 years before killing him. When Raja went on speaking, I interrupted to say that he should not take the name of patriots – ‘Deshbhakto ka naam mat lijiye’,” she said.
Meanwhile, amidst the controversy, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi has defended Pragya Thakur’s statement clarifying that she did not take the name of Nathuram Godse.
“Her microphone was off. She made the objection when the name of Udham Singh was being taken. She has even clarified this and has also told it to me personally. She did not take the name of Godse or anyone else. There is nothing on the record like that,” Joshi clarified on Wednesday.
Attacking the opposition party, the Union Minister said, “it is not right to simply spread news like this.”
Following the controversy, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur has been removed from a key parliamentary panel a day after she allegedly described Nathuram Godse, as a “patriot” during Lok Sabha proceedings. Last week, BJP MP from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur was nominated to the 21-member Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Defence headed by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
The Bhopal MP has also been in the news earlier for similar comments. During the 2019 general elections, she had given similar statements. PM Modi had stated that even though she had apologised for her statements, he can never totally forgive her.
Read: She apologised, but I can never forgive her: PM Modi condemns Sadhvi Pragya for her Godse comment
Sadhvi Pragya was recently added to the consultative committee of defence. Her nomination had created an uproar among opposition parties.
PM Modi and BJP President Amit Shah have maintained that the BJP’s intentions behind giving an MP ticket to Sadhvi Pragya against Congress’ Digvijay Singh was a symbolic answer to the false ‘Hindu Terror’ narrative that the Congress had propagated with the help of Digvijay and others, by accusing Sadhvi Pragya and Lt Col Shrikant Purohit in the Malegaon blasts.
