Rajnath Singh: We condemn any philosophy which describes 'Godse' as a patriot

Distancing BJP away from Pragya Thakur's controversial remarks wherein she called Godse a 'deshbakht', Defence Minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh stated, "Far from talking about Nathuram Godse being called a patriot, we condemn the idea of treating him as a patriot. Mahatma Gandhi is the idol of the people. He was our guiding light earlier and will continue to be guiding light in future as well. His ideology was relevant even at that time, it is today and will continue to be."

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Rajnath Singh condemning Pragya Thakur's controversial remark

Thakur's controversial remark

BJP member Pragya Thakur, on Wednesday called Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse a "deshbhakt" during a debate in the Lok Sabha, triggering protest by opposition members. 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. While the opposition members protested the interruption by Thakur, the BJP members persuaded her to sit down. After which, the Speaker said only A Raja's statement will be taken on record. Later, during the course of discussion on the Bill, Gaurav Gogoi of the Congress said that a member in the House has said that Nathuram Godse was a patriot and the member should apologise for the remark.

No stranger to controversy

Even during the Lok Sabha election campaign, Thakur had described Godse as a patriot, triggering a huge political storm. Later, she had apologised for her statement. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the campaign, had said, "The remarks made about Gandhiji or Nathuram Godse are very bad and very wrong for society.... She has sought an apology but I would never be able to forgive her fully."

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