Pragya Thakur apologises for calling Mahatma Gandhi assassin a patriot

“It is condemnable the way my remark has been attacked without finding out the details and the context. Mahatma Gandhi has contributed immensely to the nation and I have great respect for him. I apologise if I have hurt any sentiments. But the opposition is distorting my remark,” Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, said in Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament).

Her first apology in Lok Sabha earlier in the day was described as “half-hearted” by the Opposition.

“My point was misrepresented and misquoted. If anyone is hurt due to any of my statements, I apologise. I was called a terrorist. There is no evidence against me,” Thakur had said.

She was referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s tweet stating, “terrorist Pragya calls terrorist Godse, a patriot.”

Attack on my dignity

Thakur said calling her a terrorist was an attack on her dignity as a woman and a parliamentarian.

“A member of the House referred to me as ‘terrorist’. It is an attack on me, my dignity as a Member of Parliament and also as a woman. No charges against me have been proven in court. It is derogatory to call me a terrorist. It is illegal to call me a terrorist and whoever has done this directly insulting the judicial system,” she said.

BJP demanded an apology from Gandhi. BJP Parliamentarian Nishkant Dubey asked Speaker Om Birla to bring a Privilege Motion against Gandhi.

“Calling a woman and Member of Parliament a terrorist is even worse than the murder of Mahatma Gandhi. A Privilege Motion should be moved against Rahul Gandhi and he should apologise,” Dubey said.

Meanwhile, Gandhi stood by his remarks and said he was ready to face any action in Parliament.

“What I have written on Twitter, I stand by it. Let them do it. I have made my stand clear,” Gandhi said outside Parliament.

Charges against Thakur

Right-wing activist Sadhvi Pragya Thakur is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. Thakur, who spent nine years in jail, joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) later after being cleared of charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

But she faces other charges for the series of bombings that killed at least six people and injured more than 100.

She is a Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) member representing Bhopal constituency. Earlier this year at the time of general election, the Election Commission (EC) had served a show-cause notice to her for calling Congress leader and her electoral rival Digvijaya Singh a “terrorist.”

During an election campaign in Madhya Pradesh’s (MP) Sehore district, Thakur had said that a ‘sanyasi’ (ascetic) is needed to eliminate ‘atanki’ (terrorist) in Bhopal.”

After getting the notice, Thakur said she stood by her remark. A week before that, a show-cause notice was issued to Thakur for her statement that she was proud of her participation in the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya in 1992.

“A grand Ram temple will be built. I had gone to demolish the structure and had climbed atop it to break the structure. I am tremendously proud of it. God gave me the strength to wipe off a blot on this country,” Thakur had said.

According to the notice, the statement was a violation of Chapter 4 of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), which pertains to maintenance of harmony among castes, communities, religious and linguistic groups.

Reacting to the notice, Thakur had said, “I am not backtracking. The structure was demolished and a grand temple would be constructed. Nobody can stop me from constructing a grand temple.”

In March, a controversy broke out over Thakur’s statement on former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, who died in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.

She claimed that Karkare died during the terror attacks as she had “cursed” him for “torturing” her when he probed the Malegaon blast case.