Guwahati: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Pragya Thakur today commented that Nathuram Godse, the man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi was a patriot and will remain one adding to her growing list of controversial statements.
The BJP candidate of Bhopal Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh Pragya Thakur had been asked to respond to an ongoing controversy over south superstar turned politician Kamal Hassan saying that Godse, the first extremist of independent India was a Hindu. Thakur who is the main accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast was asked for a response in the context of allegations of Hindu terror. Talking to reporters, she said, “Nathuram Godse was a deshbhakt, is a deshbhakt and will remain a deshbhakt. People who called him a terrorist should instead look within and such people will be given a fitting reply in the election.”
Pragya Thakur who was dubbed accused No 1 in the Malegaon blasts was seen as the face of what termed Hindu terror during the Congress-led UPA government’s rule. The Malegaon blasts took lives of six people and more than 100 injured.
The BJP candidate of Bhopal made the controversial remarks while campaigning in her constituency like cursing Hemant Karkare who died fighting terrorist during the 26/11 attacks and bragging about participating in the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya.
Thakur was asked by her party to dial down her statements and even banned temporarily from campaigning by the election commission and the party has requested action against Kamal Hassan for his comment.
On Sunday last, South-Indian actor Kamal Hassan while campaigning in Tamil Nadu said that he is not saying because this is a Muslim-dominated area but he is saying this before a statue of Gandhi. “Independent India’s first extremist was a Hindu and his name is Nathuram Godse. There it starts,” said Hassan.
Nathuram Godse assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 and was a member of the Hindu Mahasabha.
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