29 November,2019 08:03 AM IST | New Delhi | Agencies
BJP MP Pragya Thakur's remarks on Nathuram Godse on Thursday. Pics/PTI
New Delhi: Amidst a raging row over its MP Pragya Thakur's Godse remark in Lok Sabha, the BJP on Thursday barred her from attending its parliamentary party meeting and removed her from the consultative committee on defence. The Congress stepped up its attack over the issue with its leader Rahul Gandhi asserting that her comment reflected the "heart and soul" of the saffron party and the RSS.
Under attack, Thakur defended her remark, insisting that her controversial comment in Lok Sabha was against the "insult" to revolutionary Udham Singh and claimed that a "storm of lies becomes so big at times that even day appears to be night".
Congress MPs and their allies staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha over
Thakur triggered the controversy on Wednesday with her remark in the Lower House of parliament during DMK member A Raja's narration of a statement by Nathuram Godse before a court on why he killed Mahatma Gandhi. Her remark was expunged by the Lok Sabha Speaker.
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Cracking the whip on its serial-offender, the BJP barred Thakur from attending its parliamentary party meeting in the ongoing session and removed her from the consultative committee on defence.
The issue reverberated in parliament with the Opposition strongly taking up the issue in Lok Sabha. Amid Opposition protests, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said his party condemns any philosophy which describes Mahatma Gandhi's killer as a patriot. "Far from talking about Nathuram Godse being called a patriot, we condemn the idea of treating him as a patriot. His (Gandhi's) philosophy was, is and will remain relevant and he is as a guide (margdarshak) for the nation," Singh said.
Not satisfied with the response, MPs of the Congress, Trinamool Congress, the DMK, Left parties, NCP and the AIMIM staged a walkout. The Congress and other constituents of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) gave a notice for moving a censure motion against her in the Lok Sabha. Thakur remains an accused in the Malegaon blasts case.
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