Congress to move censure motion in Lok Sabha against Pragya Thakur over Godse remark

“The House resolves to censure Pragya Singh Thakur for having insulted the father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, by calling his assassin ‘deshbhakt’ (patriot) on the floor of the House. The member is requested to withdraw from the service of the House and is required to tender a formal apology before she is readmitted,” the motion, set to be moved by the UPA constituents, read.

Thakur’s remarks rocked the Lok Sabha, as opposition members stood up and raised strong protests immediately after the House met. Unsatisfied with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s statement condemning the remarks, the opposition led by the Congress staged a walkout on Wednesday. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi termed her a “terrorist” and said this reflected the “heart and soul” of the BJP and RSS and this cannot be hidden.

The BJP, meanwhile, tried to distance itself from its erring MP, dropping her from the parliamentary panel on defence and also barring her from attending its parliamentary party meeting in the ongoing winter session.

BJP working president JP Nadda today announced disciplinary action against Thakur and recommended Thakur’s removal from the consultative committee on defence, to which she was recently appointed. “We have decided that Thakur will not attend meetings of BJP parliamentary party during the session,” he said. “We are very clear about it that we condemn her statement and we do not support this ideology,” he said.

Thakur, on the other hand, insisted that her remarks in Lok Sabha made during DMK member A Raja’s narration of a statement by Godse before a court on why he killed Gandhi were against the “insult” to revolutionary Udham Singh. She took to Twitter to defend her comments, saying, “Storm of lies becomes so big at times that even day appears to be night but the Sun does not lose its light. People should not be swayed by this storm. Truth is that I did not tolerate insult to Udham Singh yesterday.