india

Updated: May 17, 2019 16:23 IST

Congress president Rahul Gandhi hit out at the BJP over the remarks of its Bhopal candidate Pragya Thakur for calling Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse “a patriot.”

I finally got it. The BJP and the RSS...



Are not God-Ke Lovers.



They are God-Se Lovers. — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 17, 2019

Reacting to the statement of Kamal Haasan, who called Godse “the first Hindu terrorist of independent India”, Pragya Thakur had said: “Nathuram Godse was a ‘deshbhakt’, is a deshbhakt and will remain a deshbhakt. People calling him a terrorist should instead look within. Such people will be given a befitting reply in these elections.”

The BJP was quick to reject her remarks. Soon after, Thakur apologized for the statement.

Blaming the media for what Thakur described as, twisting her comment, she said: “My intention was not to hurt anyone’s sentiments. If I’ve hurt anyone, I do apologise. What Gandhiji has done for the country cannot be forgotten. My statement has been twisted by the media.”

Hours earlier, according to news agency ANI, Union Minister Anantkumar Hegde had backed Nathuram Godse in a tweet. The minister later deleted the tweets, claiming that his Twitter account had been breached.

Another BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh, Anil Saumitra, created controversy by saying that “Mahatma Gandhi was Pakistan’s father of the nation”. He has been suspended from the primary membership of the party.

Criticising the statements made by Pragya Thakur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this kind of a language could not tolerated in a civilized society. “She has apologised. That is a different thing. But in my heart, I cannot forgive her,” said PM Modi in an interview to a TV channel.

“Everything that has been said about Godse and Gandhi is horribly wrong and fit to be hated and criticised. Those who say this should think a 100 times in future,” PM Modi said.

Party president Amit Shah also tweeted today, firmly distancing the party from offensive posts that criticise the Mahatma or appear to eugolise Godse. The three leaders were also issued notice by the party’s disciplinary committee.