BJP leader calls Godse, a “Patriot”, faces backlash

Pragya Singh Thakur from BJP, came up with the sensational comments which is now troubling the BJP big time. The BJP leader said that Nathuram Godse, the one who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, “was a deshbhakt (patriot), is a deshbhakt and will remain one.”

These remarks have created a severe outrage and within no time, most of the opposition parties severely went against BJP. Unwilling to poke nose into the controversy, BJP dis-owned Pragya’s statements. However, as the issue turned worse, she had to apologize and retract the statement.

Pragya made these statements, when she was asked to respond to an ongoing controversy over Kamal Haasan saying that, “Godse, the first extremist of independent India, was a Hindu”.

“Nathuram Godse was a deshbhakt, is a deshbhakt and will remain a deshbhakt. People calling him a terrorist should instead look within, such people will be given a fitting reply in the election,” Pragya Thakur said.

BJP severely condemned her statements, saying, “BJP does not agree with this statement, we condemn it. Party will ask her for clarification, she should apologise publicly for this statement.”

Adding to it, the Election Commission banned Pragya temporarily from campaigning. Meanwhile, BJP has also requested action against Kamal Haasan for his controversial comment.

“I am not saying this because this is a Muslim-dominated area, but I am saying this before a statue of Gandhi. Independent India’s first extremist (theevravaadi) was a Hindu, his name is Nathuram Godse. There it starts,” Kamal Haasan had said while campaigning in Tamil Nadu on Sunday.

Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, was a member of the Hindu Mahasabha.