Herself a victim of UPA Govt, Bhopal MP suited to save innocents, says BJP as Cong raps Govt
Political firestorm erupted over controversial BJP MP Pragya Thakur’s inclusion in Parliament consultative committee on defence.
The 21-member committee, headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, also includes National Conference leader and parliamentarian Farooq Abdullah who is undergoing detention in Jammu & Kashmir post re-organisation of the erstwhile State into two Union Territories after scrapping of the Article 370 that granted special status to J&K. The committe comprise 12 members from the Lok Sabha and nine from the Rajya Sabha.
The BJP strongly defended her presence on the panel and asserted the Bhopal MP can help in “framing right methodology” so that innocents are not “victimised” the way she was done by the Congress-led UPA Government.
Hitting back at the Congress which criticised Thakur’s inclusion in the parliamentary panel, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi said the party seems to have lost its faith in democracy and forgotten that Thakur is an elected member of Parliament. People know that Thakur was falsely implicated by the Congress-led UPA Government, said Lekhi, who is in the panel.
Thakur, a first-time MP from Bhopal, is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, and is currently out on bail. She is facing trial for multiple charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Thakur’s nomination to the panel triggered a political row as the Congress attacked the Government, saying it was unfortunate for the country that an MP accused of “spreading terror” has been nominated as member of a defence-related committee.
“Modi has not been able to forgive her from the heart’ but she has been given the responsibility on important issues such as the country’s defence. That is why if there is Modi, anything is possible,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a tweet.
The Bombay High Court granted Thakur bail on health grounds in April 2017 after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) dropped charges against her under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.
Thakur has often hogged headlines for her controversial statements. Her statement that Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse was a “patriot” had led Modi to assert that he would not be able to forgive her for the comment. The BJP had even served her a show-cause notice for the statement.
She had also earned the Opposition’s ire over her comment that then Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks due to her “curse”. She had also attributed the deaths of BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley to ‘marak shakti’ (killing power) used by BJP’s political adversaries.
The parliamentary panel on defence also includes Minister of State for Defence Shripad Yesso Naik, BJP’s JP Nadda and NCP leader Sharad Pawar.
The consultative committee also includes TMC’s Sougata Roy and DMK’s A Raja. Besides the 21 MPs, the committee also has Arjun Ram Meghwal and V Muraleedharan, both Ministers of States its ex-officio members.