Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Pragya Singh Thakur aka Sadhvi Pragya on Friday backed Nupur Sharma, the former BJP spokesperson who was suspended by the party for her controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad that sparked an international backlash.
On the response to Ms. Sharma’s statement, Sadhvi Pragya — who is facing a trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case and is currently out on bail — said, “These non-believers have always done so. They have a communist history... Kamlesh Tiwari said something and he was killed. Another person [Nupur Sharma] said something and got threat.”
Earlier, Ms. Thakur also posted a tweet in support of her suspended party colleague. “If speaking truth is an act of rebellion, then I am a rebel myself,” said the tweet.
Speaking to the presspersons, Ms. Thakur said that there was a Shiva temple under the Gyanvapi Mosque and that’s how it would remain. She further added that India belonged to the Hindus and that 'Sanatana Dharma' would stay here. “Muslims and non-believers give statement against our [Hindu] gods... How can we tolerate such insult?” she said.
These statements come even as the central leadership of the BJP, following the massive uproar over the Nupur Sharma incident, has reportedly asked its leaders to refrain from criticising any religion. On the Gyanvapi mosque issue too, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat had said that there was no need to find a 'Shivling' in every mosque and start a new dispute every day.
Leaders and spokesperson of the Madhya Pradesh unit of the BJP refrained from commenting on the issue, distancing themselves from Ms. Thakur’s statement. Her name doesn’t figure in the division-wise selection committee formed by the BJP regarding the urban body elections in Bhopal, a constituency she represents and sources said that her statements could be a fallout of that.
This is also not the first time that Ms. Thakur has made a controversial statement. Last year, she had called Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse “a patriot” and also said that former Mumbai Anti-terrorism squad chief Hemant Karkare, who was killed by terrorists in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was not considered a “deshbhakt” by true patriots.
