DNA Edit: Unpatriotic statement – Pragya Thakur’s lionisation of Godse is blighted

Bharatiya Janata Party’s Lok Sabha candidate in Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur has opened a Pandora’s box by calling Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse a patriot. She insisted she has always considered him a patriot. Thakur, before she was charged in the Malegaon blasts case, was called a Sadhvi. While her admirers may still insist she is one, her recent uttering indicates the contradictory. Thakur’s defence that she was simply responding to actor Kamal Haasan’s remark that Godse was independent India’s first Hindu terrorist, is indeed a meek one. She has subsequently offered her apology to the nation. But the damage has already been done. 

This is not the first time that she has gone off the rails and insulted sacrifices. Her assertion that it was her curse that led to the death of Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare, had also drawn fury of the nation. Karkare was instrumental in the arrest of Thakur and had gathered evidence, which he believed was enough to charge her for conspiring in the Malegaon blasts case. Thakur has every right to believe that Karkare was wrong in his assessment and she is facing the trial which will eventually seal her fate either way. But to say that Karkare, who was killed in the line of duty during the 26/11 attack in Mumbai, died because of her curse is not just insensitive but also insulting to the martyr. Thakur has been roundly criticised for this unfortunate utterance and yet the lady goes ahead and says things that insult the memory of Mahatma Gandhi. Her remarks did not just bring shame to herself and her party, but to the whole nation. 

What is even more disturbing is that there have been more party colleagues like Anantkumar Hegde, Nalin Kateel and Anil Saumitra who had echoed her sentiment. It shows that the malaise is set in deep. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, busy campaigning for the polls, took out time to clarify the party’s stand stating he was not at all pleased with what Thakur has said. His statement that he won’t be able to forgive her even if she had apologised is enough to indicate the anguish he has felt over Thakur’s vicious remark. The PM’s advice to his party colleagues — think 100 times before you make any such statements — is something that needs to be heeded by everyone and not just those in the BJP. That one tends to go overboard during the election campaigning is understandable. That a few politicians may not be the shining examples of civility and humility is also acceptable. 

Every party has the right to choose their own candidates. But Pragya Singh Thakur has turned out to be the worst choice. She may even win against Congress’s Digvijaya Singh, who can give competition to Pragya Thakur in being out of mind sometimes. Whoever wins in Bhopal, civility will have been lost. And if one is worried about insult to Bapu by praising Godse, the former has won his rightful place in history. It won’t be affected no matter what the likes of Pragya Thakur say.