Rahul Gandhi has launched an attack on BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur over her latest round of praise for Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse.
Reacting to Sadhvi Pragya’s 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.”
Sadhvi Pragya was on Thursday removed from the defence ministry panel she was made a part of in a controversial move a few days ago. Following her remark on Godse, BJP has removed her from the panel headed by Rajnath Singh.
Rahul Gandhi✔@RahulGandhi
BJP member Pragya Thakur referred to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse as a “deshbhakt” during a debate in Lok Sabha, triggering a protest by opposition members.
When DMK member A Raja cited a statement of Godse on why he killed Mahatma Gandhi during a discussion on the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, Thakur interrupted and said, “You cannot give example of a deshbhakt.”
Raja said that Godse himself admitted that he had nursed a grudge against Gandhi for 32 years before finally deciding to assassinate him. Godse, Raja said, killed Gandhi because he believed in a particular philosophy.
In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur landed in a major controversy when she hailed Godse as a “deshbhakt”. BJP issued her a showcause notice and she then refrained from making further remarks on Godse. She even apologised for her statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had then said, “The remarks made about Gandhiji or Nathuram Godse are very bad and very wrong for society…. She has sought an apology but I would never be able to forgive her fully.”
However, now she is back to calling Nathuram Godse a patriot. She has again started another round of controversy with a similar praise of the Mahatma Gandhi assassin.
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.
Prasanta Patnaik