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THE ORIGINAL SIN

Just before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, there was hoo-ha from the opposition parties in protest against the issuing of party ticket by the BJP to terror accused Pragya Singh Thakur to contest the parliamentary elections. Nevertheless, not only was she granted the ticket but she also defeated the heavyweight Digvijaya Singh of the Congress Party with a margin of 364,822 votes. Currently, she is the MP from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

This peculiar and controversial character has been in the headlines many a times for reasons obvious to everyone. A prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case which killed six people. She is on trial facing multiple charges under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. She is now out on bail on health grounds. Pragya Singh Thakur is the same person who said that Hemant Karkare died in the 2008 Mumbai attacks because no she cursed him for treating her badly in jail after her arrest in 2008 blasts. Ironically, she is also the only cancer survivor who survived from drinking cow urine!

Her candidature sparked rows of controversy. And while many of the Indian news channels could not muster the courage to question the BJP on taking the despicable decision to field a terror accused to contest elections. A British journalist Mehdi Hasan in an interview on Al Jazeera’s Upfront with BJP Spokesperson Nalin Kohli left no stones unturned to grill the BJP Spokesperson.

On November 21, 2019 in a move which caught everyone by surprise, the Modi led BJP Government made Pragya Thakur a part of the 21 member Parliamentary Consultative Committee on defense headed by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh. This unseemly move was severely criticised by the opposition parties which termed it as ‘Unfortunate’. Shortly after her elevation, Pragya Thakur had the audacity to call Nathuram Godse, the very person who shot dead the father of the nation a patriot. That too inside the Parliament! Facing the mounting pressure from the opposition parties, the BJP took no time to remove her from the Parliamentary Committee on defense and also debarred her from BJP Parliamentary party meetings.

But this isn’t the first instance where she glorified independent India’s first terrorist. She had made similar statement while on her campaign trail on May 16, 2019. She categorically stated “Nathuram Godse deshbakht the, hai, aur rahenge. Unko atankwadi kehne wale log swayam ke girebaan main jhank kar dekhe. Abke chunav main unhe jawab de diya jayega’( Nathuram Godse was a patriot and will remain so. People calling him a terrorist should introspect. They will be given a befitting reply in these elections). The very next day, Mr. Modi told a TV Channel during his last rally that he can never forgive Pragya Thakur for insulting Mahatma Gandhi and that her comments were detrimental to society. But so much has happened since then. And not a single action has been taken against her till date.

Both Modi and Pragya are loyal foot soldiers of the Sangh Parivar. And it would be folly to think that the Modi Government will banish her from the party despite repeated offenses. After all, Pragya Singh Thakur was the favourite pick of Mr. Modi and that was the original sin.

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