BJP MP from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur, accused in the Malegaon blast case, referred to Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse as a "deshbhakt" during a debate in Lok Sabha. Pragya Thakur's comments triggered a protest by opposition members in the House.
When DMK member A Raja cited a statement of Godse on why he killed Mahatma Gandhi during a discussion on the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, Thakur interrupted and said, "You cannot give example of a deshbhakt."
Raja said that Godse himself admitted that he had nursed a grudge against Gandhi for 32 years before finally deciding to assassinate him.
Godse, Raja said, killed Gandhi because he believed in a particular philosophy.
Opposition protests
While the opposition members protested the interruption by Thakur, the BJP members persuaded her to sit down.
Security should be based on threat perception and not because of political reasons, Raja said and asked the Home Minister to revisit the Bill which seeks to withdraw SGP cover from persons other than Prime Minister.
Pragya Thakur's nomination to Defence panel
BJP member Pragya Thakur has also been nominated to the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Defence. According to the government notification dated October 21, the 21-member parliamentary consultative committee is headed by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
