Published 11:54 IST, July 22nd 2019
Sadhvi Pragya triggers controversy months after becoming Bhopal MP, argues she 'Didn't become MP to clean drains, toilets'
BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur made a controversial statement on Sunday saying that she has not been elected to clean toilets
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Even when the first term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was marked by his pet project 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' instilling behavioural change in the citizens, the controversial BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur on Sunday, July 21 said that she is not there to clean toilets.
In what is being criticised as an insult for people involved in cleaning jobs, Sadhvi said in an interaction with the BJP workers at Seohar, "We were not elected to get your drains cleaned. We were not made to get your toilets cleaned. We will do all the work for which we have been elected." This despite relentless effort by the Central government to do everything to make the Swachh Bharat Mission a success and all the NDA ministers spreading awareness about India's largest cleanliness campaign.
Her comment came in response to a grievance raised by a BJP worker over the issues faced by people due to lack of cleanliness and hygiene in the area. Pragya Thakur, who is a terror-blast accused, successfully contested the Lok Sabha elections against senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh from Bhopal constituency, has been in news several times in the recent past for making controversial statements.
Charges against Sadhvi Pragya:
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur is an accused in the Malegaon blast case and now BJP MP from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, constituency. Saffron-clad Thakur (48), with her trademark short hair and sporting a rudraksh mala, became the face of right wing extremism after being arrested by the Maharashtra Anti- Terrorism Squad in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. Currently she is out on bail.
On December 27, 2017, a special NIA court had dropped stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act charges against Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya,Sameer Kulkarni and other accused in the blast case. A post-graduate in history, she worked with the RSS student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Durga Vahini, women's wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. In April 2017, the Bombay High Court approved bail for Thakur, who the ATS had said was among the prime conspirators of the blast. Six persons were killed and 101 were injured when an improvised explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off at Malegaon on September 29, 2008.
Election controversy:
Sadhvi Pragya contested the elections from Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal constituency against Congress stalwart Digvijaya Singh. Bhopal, a bastion of the BJP with the party ruling the constituency for nearly three decades. The seat has been in the BJP's kitty since the elections for the ninth Lok Sabha which took place in 1989 - 30 years.
In 2019, the BJP pitted her against Congress' Digvijaya Singh who is known for having been a big proponent of the ‘Hindu terror/Saffron terror’ charge of the erstwhile UPA government. Sadhvi Pragya, in particular, made several remarks during the campaigning phase which triggered outrage. First, claiming that martyred ATS chief Hemant Karkare had held her in custody while questioning her in the terror case without any evidence, she said, "You will find it difficult to believe, when I cursed him that 'you will be annihilated', and just over a month later he was killed by terrorists, marking his end."
She later made a communal statement claiming that she was part of the mob which demolished Babri Masjid.“I was present there (Ayodhya). I had broken the structure. I had demolished the structure. I will go there again. I will help in the construction of our Ram Temple. It is not a controversial issue. Ram Temple was there and I will help in constructing a magnificent temple of Lord Ram." Amid the elections, she called Nathuram Godse a patriot while reacting to actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan's remark where said that 'free India's first terrorist was a Hindu'.The Election Commission had filed an FIR over her Babri Masjid comment and served her notices to explain her conduct following her statements on Karkare and Babri Masjid.
11:17 IST, July 22nd 2019