Pragya Thakur removed from consultative committee of defence, barred from participating in parliamentary party meetings

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs on Thursday removed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Defence over her controversial remark in Lok Sabha on Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi. However, her remarks have been expunged by the Chair.

BJP working president JP Nadda stated that in this session she will not be allowed to participate in the parliamentary party meetings.

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Nadda said, "Her statement yesterday (Wednesday) in Parliament is condemnable. BJP never supports such a statement or ideology. We have decided that Pragya Singh Thakur will be removed from the consultative committee of defence, and in this session, she will not be allowed to participate in the parliamentary party meetings."

During a debate on the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill on Wednesday, when Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP A Raja was speaking on the Bill, Thakur apparently referred to Godse. 

Raja said that Godse made a statement when the appeal was filed before the appellate court in Mahatma Gandhi assassination case. As he began quoting Godse, Thakur made some remarks which were objected to by the Opposition members including Congress member Gaurav Gogoi.

Speaker Om Birla asked her to take her seat and said objectionable words will not go into the record. He also asked the members not to cause interruptions and not start behaving like the Speaker.

Speaking to ANI later, Thakur had said that she was referring to Udham Singh when she made the remarks. "The topic that was discussed was of security and A Raja spoke about Udham Singh. He said that Udham Singh nursed a grudge against General Dyer of Jallianwala Bagh massacre for 20 years before killing him. When Raja went on speaking, I interrupted to say that he should not take patriot`s name," said Thakur.

On November 21, Thakur was made part of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Defence. 

Sadhvi Pragya is an MP from Bhopal. She successfully defeated senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh in the Lok Sabha election held earlier in 2019. 

The BJP was severely criticised after it gave Sadhvi Pragya, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, a ticket to fight the election. She has often drawn flak for her insensitive remarks.

While campaigning for the Lok Sabha election, she had landed in a major controversy for calling Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse a ''patriot". Her comments were highly condemned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he said that he won't be able to forgive those who make such remarks. A showcase notice was also issued to Sadhvi Pragya by the BJP over the remark.