{"id":312385,"date":"2019-05-16T16:27:17","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T16:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=312385"},"modified":"2019-05-16T16:27:17","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T16:27:17","slug":"pragya-thakur-calls-godse-patriot-retracts-statement-after-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/pragya-thakur-calls-godse-patriot-retracts-statement-after-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"Pragya Thakur Calls Godse \u2018Patriot\u2019, retracts statement after backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

BJP\u2019s Bhopal candidate Pragya Singh Thakur on Thursday kicked up a row, as she called Mahatma Gandhi\u2019s assassin Nathuram Godse a \u201cpatriot\u201d but apologised for it hours later and said she would “follow the party’s line” and the party’s line was her line.<\/span><\/p>\n

Responding to a question to an ongoing controversy over actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan\u2019s comments that Godse was the \u201cfirst extremist of free India\u201d, Thakur said, \u201cNathuram Godse “was a\u00a0deshbhakt(patriot), is a\u00a0deshbhakt\u00a0and will remain one.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThose calling him a terrorist should see inside their own self and such people will be given a befitting reply in these elections,\u201d she had said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The BJP however, condemned Pragya Singh Thakur\u2019s statement and said she should apologise. “BJP does not agree with this statement, we condemn it. Party will ask her for clarification, she should apologise publicly for this statement,” party spokesperson\u00a0GVL Narasimha Rao said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Addressing an election campaign rally at Tamil Nadu\u2019s Aravakurichi on May 12, Haasan had said that the first extremist in free India was a Hindu.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am not saying this because this is a Muslim-dominated area, but I am saying this before a statue of Gandhi. Independent India\u2019s first terrorist was a Hindu, his name is Nathuram Godse. There it (terrorism, apparently) starts,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Congress party hit out at the BJP and said in a tweet, \u201cWhen you nominate a terror accused as a Lok Sabha candidate can you really expect them to not support other terrorists. By allowing such heinous behaviour BJP has shown they’re not just soft on terrorists but #BJPSupportsTerrorists.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also attacked the BJP and said, \u201cDistancing yourself from your candidate is not enough. Nationalistic luminaries of the BJP have the guts to spell out your stand.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in a tweet \u201cIf the killer of the father of the nation is a patriot does that make Mahatma Gandhi anti-national?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are on the side of Gandhiji, who won India freedom, and you are on the side of his murderer,\u201d Omar added.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BJP\u2019s Bhopal candidate Pragya Singh Thakur on Thursday kicked up a row, as she called Mahatma Gandhi\u2019s assassin Nathuram Godse a \u201cpatriot\u201d but apologised for it hours later and said she would “follow the party’s line” and the party’s line was her line. Responding to a question to an ongoing controversy over actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":312386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1801],"tags":[11377],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312387,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312385\/revisions\/312387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/312386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}