After Sadhvi Pragya Thakur made controversial comments regarding the Opposition and the death of BJP leaders, an embarrassed Bharatiya Janata Party has asked the MP from Bhopal to avoid talking in public and refrain from making controversial remarks.
Sadhvi Pragya, who is no stranger to rustling controversy through her speeches, ruffled quite a few feathers when she said the Opposition is using "marakh shakti" or the killing power to harm the BJP leaders. She was referring to the recent deaths of former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who were both senior BJP leaders.
"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?" Sadhvi Pragya had said.
The BJP's high command in Delhi was left red-faced after she made these remarks and asked the BJP leaders in Madhya Pradesh to reign in the MP and inform them if she made another controversial remark.
Thakur, who was a suspect in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Bhopal in a landslide victory. However, during her campaign, she had made many insensitive remarks.
On one occasion, Thakur praised Nathuram Godse for killing Gandhi. "Nathuram Godse was a deshbhakt (patriot), 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." she said.
This prompted PM Modi to make a statement where he said that he would never forgive her for the remark.
After receiving reprimands and the BJP media cell in MP, Thakur issued an apology saying that she had nothing but respect for Gandhi. She said, "I apologise to the people of the country for my statements on Nathuram Godse. My statement was absolutely wrong. I have huge respect for the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi."
In another instance, the controversial politician shocked the nation by stating that 26/11 martyr Hemanth Karkare's death was karma because he had allegedly tortured her in connection with the 2008 Malegaon Blast case.