Controversial Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Pragya Singh Thakur, who courts raging rows every now and then, has now been nominated to the Ministry of Defence¡¯s Parliamentary Consultative Committee, which is headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.?
The Member of Parliament from Bhopal who defeated Congress party¡¯s Digvijay Singh in 2019 general elections, remains an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bombing case. In this regard, she is facing trial in a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court.?
Pragya Thakur, to this effect, has been faced with multiple charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. To bring perspective to the Malegaon Blast case, it must be noted that at least six people were killed in the heinous act. Further, 100 were injured in the bomb blast in which an explosive device was strapped to a motorcycle.?
The bomb went off adjacent to a mosque in Malegaon in Maharashtra in September 2008. She was granted bail on health grounds in 2017.?
But life seems to have taken a full circle for Pragya as she is now nominated as a member in a parliamentary consultative committee on defence. She has also courted controversy at numerous instances by openly hailing and celebrating the life of Nathuram Godse, the assassin of the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi.?
In the run up to the 2019 general elections too, she had made an astonishing claim that the former Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare died during the Mumbai terror attacks because she had cursed him. After facing outrage from all sections of the society, she was later compelled to withdraw her comments.?
Thakur,?no stranger to controversies as also a terror accused and a vociferous fan of Gandhi's assasin, once also said the Opposition was using a 'marak shakti' (killing power) to harm BJP leaders, adding the 'evil power' was behind the recent deaths of former Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj.
BJP veteran Arun Jaitley died on August 24 and Swaraj on August 6.
"While I was contesting (Lok Sabha) elections, a Maharaj ji told me that bad times are upon us and Opposition is up to something using some 'marak shakti' against BJP. I later forgot what he said but now when I see our top leaders leaving us one by one, I am forced to think, wasn't Maharaj ji right?" she said.?
The most memorable instance is when she praised Godse as a patriot. This irked Indians across the line and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that her comments were detrimental to the society and that he would never be able to forgive her.?
Nonetheless, she has now been nominated to the Ministry of Defence's Parliamentary Consultative Committee and Prime Minister Modi is still at the helm of affairs in the country.?