From her contentious entry into the poll fray to defeating Congressveteran Digvijay Singh in Bhopal in 2019 General Elections and being consistentat making tendentious remarks, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sadhvi Pragya SinghThakur has remained controversy¡¯s favourite child. She holds forth withinsensitive remarks on fairly sensitive topics, giving media and social mediaenough fodder for days.
The 49-year-old Hindutva activist is an accused in the 2008 Malegaonblast case which killed 10 people and injured 80 and is currently out on bailon health grounds.
Sadhvi Pragya stirred a hornet¡¯s nest on November 28 after termingGandhi¡¯s assassin Nathuram Godse as a patriot for the second time. However,this time her loose remarks were met with some severe repercussions.
When DMK member A Raja cited a statement of Godse on why he killedMahatma Gandhi during a discussion on the Special Protection Group (Amendment)Bill, Thakur interrupted and said, "You cannot give an example of adeshbhakt."
However, BJP later claimed that Pragya¡¯s remark did not refer to Godsebut to Uddham Singh.
"According to Pragya Thakur, she has not said anything about orsupported Nathuram Godse, she was only talking about Udham Singh, therevolutionary who killed General Dyer," Parliamentary Affairs MinisterPrahlad Joshi told PTI.
BJP decided to come out in support of the controversial MP, who is facinga volley of attacks by the Opposition.
A day after making the provocative remarks, Sadhvi Pragya was axed fromthe Consultative Committee on Defence -- she was appointed only eight days ago-- but she can't attend BJP parliamentary party meetings during the currentsession either.
BJP also said that the party does not support such statements.
Gau mutra curing cancer??
At one point, Sadhvi claimed that a mixture of gau mutra (cowurine) and other cow products cured her cancer.
Sadhvi Pragya called the cure scientific, saying, "I am a livingexample of its effectiveness.¡± However, her surgeon wasn¡¯t too sure of theclaim.
Dr SS Rajput, who heads the cardiothoracic and vascular surgery (CTVS)department at Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow, saidPragya opted for surgery to prevent recurrence of malignancy after she wasdiagnosed with cancer in 2011.
¡°I have operated upon her thrice ¨C in 2008, 2011 and 2017 ¡ª to checkspread of cancer in her body,¡± Dr Rajput told TOI. On Sadhvi¡¯s claim of gaumutra¡¯s healing power, he said: ¡°It is a matter of her faith. When sheasked me about gau mutra, I told her there was no harm, but I cannotcomment on its benefits. I also told her it was her faith, luck and decision.¡±
Offensive remarks on Karkare
Eleven years after the Mumbai attacks, the distressing memories remainetched in the minds of people. Politics, however, has tried warping thesuffering.
Sadhvi launched a severe attack against former Maharashtra Anti-TerrorismSquad (ATS) chief late Hemant Karkare for allegedly implicating her in theMalegaon blast case and subjecting her to torture during interrogation.?
In a video, she is heard as saying: ¡°Maine kaha tera sarvanash hoga. Theek sava mahine mein sutak lagta hain. Jis din main gayi thi theek usi din iske sutak lag gaya tha. Aur theek sava mahine mein jis din atankwadiyon ne isko maara us din uska anth hua (I had told him that he will be destroyed. Sutak (a period of abstention in Hindu tradition after a death or birth in a family) comes into force within one month and a quarter. It came into force the day I was arrested. And exactly one and a quarter month later he was destroyed by the terrorists."
Karkare and two other senior cops from Mumbai Vinay Kamte and VijaySalaskar were killed by Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in Mumbai on November 26,2008, during the 26/11 terror strikes. Karkare was the ATS head then and wasinvestigating the Malegaon blast case in which a bomb had exploded inMaharashtra north on September 29, 2008.
The motorcycle laden with explosives was traced down to Surat in Gujaratby its registration plate and later to Thakur.
Sadhvi¡¯s remarks led to a nationwide furore which ultimately forced herto withdraw her statement.
Helping in Babri demolition
Back in April this year, Sadhvi Pragya bragged about taking part in BabriMasjid demolition in Ayodhya on December 6 and does not regret it.
In fact, she said that she is proud of it. She boasted that she climbedatop Babri Masjid and helped demolish the structure.
In an interview to a TV channel, Pragya said, ¡°Why would we regret thedemolition of the Babri Masjid? We are, in fact, proud of it. There were somewaste products at the Ram temple and we removed it. This has awakened theself-respect of our country and we will construct a grand Ram temple."
¡®Evil power¡¯ working on BJP
Sadhvi¡¯s list of controversial statements is long.
She once said that the Congress was using 'evil forces' to hurt BJPleaders. "I had been told by a maharaj ji before the elections that badtimes are upon us as the Opposition was using some maarak shakti againstthe BJP," she had said. "I don't remember [exactly] what he said, butnow that so many leaders are leaving us one by one, I am forced to [wonder ifhe] was right," she had said in August during a condolence meeting afterthe death of BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Babulal Gaur.
Godse a ¡®patriot¡¯
In May, Sadhvi yet again stirred controversy when she glorified MahatmaGandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse, and called him a ¡°deshbhakt¡±(patriot).
She had said: "Nathuram Godse was a deshbhakt (patriot), is a'deshbhakt' and will remain a 'deshbhakt'. People calling him aterrorist should instead look within, such people will be given a fitting replyin the election." This was followed by more comments from three moreleaders, Anant Kumar Hegde, Nalin Kumar Kateel and Anil Saumitra.
Distressed by the comments from party members, PM Modi Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said he won¡¯t ever be able to forgive them for insulting Bapu.
The BJP tweeted PM Modi as saying in an interview to the channel:"The comments on Gandhi and Godse are deplorable, disgusting and are notlanguage fit for civilised society. Those who say such things should think 100times. It is a different issue that they have apologised, but I will not beable to forgive them from my heart."
She had earlier supported the ban on burkhas for the sake ofnational security.
Sadhvi has never talked about issues affecting her constituency or issuessuch as unemployment, farmers¡¯ distress plaguing the country. For many, sheremains a vociferous force of Hindutva and the flagbearer of the SanghParivar¡¯s ideology.
Not sure if these remarks will help Sadhvi forge a political future forherself but her performance as an MP in and outside of the house remainsquestionable.