The Member of Parliament (MP) from Bhopal constituency of Madhya Pradesh, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, has once again landed herself into a controversy, this time too for, allegedly, terming Mahatma Gandhi assassin, Nathuram Godse, as a nationalist. This happened in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, November 27 when Dravida Mennetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP A. Raja was speaking on the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, 2019. A. Raja was giving examples of two protestors, Udham Singh and Nathuram Godse, who took revenge by killing their target.
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“When I said Nathuram Godse who committed the brutal act of killing Gandhi, Sadhvi Pragya stood and said that he was a nationalist. It is condemnable.,” A. Raja said to news agency ANI. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Thakur though defended by stating that she had interrupted DMK MP A. Raja for his reference to any patriots as conspirators. “The topic that was discussed was of security and A. Raja spoke about 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 Patriot’s name,” said Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, quoted ANI.
कभी-2 झूठ का बबण्डर इतना गहरा होता है कि दिन मे भी रात लगने लगती है किन्तु सूर्य अपना प्रकाश नहीं खोता पलभर के बबण्डर मे लोग भ्रमित न हों सूर्य का प्रकाश स्थाई है। सत्य यही है कि कल मैने ऊधम सिंह जी का अपमान नहीं सहा बस।
— Sadhvi Pragya Official (@SadhviPragya_MP) November 28, 2019
The comment from Thakur was highly condemned and criticised by the opposition parties including Congress party. The speaker of Lok Sabha, Om Birla, reacted by stating that her comment will not go into record and that it will be expunged from the record.
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Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, has been, allegedly, advocating for Nathuram Godse by calling him a patriot. In her statement to a media house, in May 2019, during the election campaign for Lok Sabha polls 2019, Thakur had called Nathuram Godse a patriot. “Nathuram Godse was a deshbhakt (patriot), he is and will remain a deshbhakt. Those calling him a terrorist should instead look at themselves. They will be given a befitting reply in this election.,” Thakur had said in May this year.
As obvious as it was, the opposition parties including Congress party criticised her comment for Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin. Congress leader and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijay Singh, had criticised and condemned Thakur’s comment for Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin. However, he could not defeat BJP’s Pragya Thakur in the general polls 2019.
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The BJP had also asked Thakur for a public apology after she called Godse a patriot. Sadhvi Pragya Thakur did apologize through her video message. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview to ANI, had said that he will never forgive Thakur for her comment in favour of Nathuram Godse. Recently, Thakur was nominated for the Parliamentary Consultative Committee (PCC) of the Ministry of Defence. The 21-member PCC is headed by the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Acting on Thakur for her remark in the Lok Sabha, the BJP Working Committee president, JP Nadda, on Thursday, briefed media on Thakur being expelled from the PCC panel. He also mentioned that Thakur is also expelled from Parliamentary Party meetings for the current winter session. However, opposition parties are yet not in the mood to settle the matter.
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Clarifying on the same, the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that his party doesn’t support the remark made by his party’s MP. “If someone considers Nathuram Godse as a ‘deshbhakt’, then our party condemns it. Mahatma Gandhi is an idol for us, he was our guiding light and will remain so.,” said Singh in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, November 28.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Lok Sabha: If someone considers Nathuram Godse as a 'deshbhakt', then our party condemns it. Mahatma Gandhi is an idol for us, he was our guiding light and will remain so. pic.twitter.com/uDBrY28kRq
— ANI (@ANI) November 28, 2019
