Amidst the controversy over BJP MP Pragya Thakur’s alleged praise for Nathuram Godse, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday clarified that the BJP condemns any philosophy which describes Nathuram Godse as a ‘patriot’.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Union Defence Minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh also said that the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi was, is and will remain relevant and described him as a guide (margdarshak) for the nation.
नाथूराम गोडसे को देशभक्त कहे जाने की बात तो दूर हम उन्हें देशभक्त मानने की सोच को ही condemn करते हैं।
महात्मा गांधी हम लोगों के आदर्श हैं।वे पहले भी हमारे मार्गदर्शक थे और भविष्य में भी मार्गदर्शक रहेंगे।
उनकी विचारधारा उस समय भी प्रासंगिक थी, आज भी है और आगे भी रहेगी। pic.twitter.com/WH6y09VOVt
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) November 28, 2019
Rajnath Singh’s comments came after Congress and other opposition members raked up remarks made on Godse by BJP MP Pragya Thakur in the House on Wednesday.
On Thursday, opposition members strongly protested against the remarks made by BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur during the debate in the parliament. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today went on to call BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur a ‘terrorist’ after she had allegedly praised Nathuram Godse by calling him a patriot.
A controversy had 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 had 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.
Read: Three questions that should be asked and debated around Sadhvi Pragya calling Godse a deshbhakt
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.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur joined the BJP formally early this year and went on to win the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Bhopal. The NIA had given her a clean chit in the Malegaon Blasts case in 2016 after years of brutal torture in prison.
It is widely believed that Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was one of the victims of the Congress party’s attempt to invent Hindu Terror. However, Sadhvi Pragya was granted bail in April 2017 after she was jailed for eight long years. 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.
