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Updated: Jun 22, 2020 02:32 IST

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) member of Parliament from Bhopal, Pragya Thakur, suggested on Monday that “black magic” practised by members of opposition political parties may be behind deaths of top leaders of the BJP, including former Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Babulal Gaur.

Thakur made the comments at a meeting held in the BJP’s state headquarters to pay tribute to the departed leaders.

“A saint met me during Lok Sabha elections and told me that the Opposition might use black magic (marak shakti) against the BJP, and that it would harm the party and the leaders who are efficient, hardworking and manage the party affairs,” Thakur said.

“I had forgotten what the saint had said in the crowd, but when I see today that party’s top leaders Shushma ji, Jaitley ji and Babulal Gaur ji are dying while undergoing pain, it occurs to me if it [the prophesy] is true,” she added.

Reacting to the MP’s statement, the Congress’s Madhya Pradesh media in-charge Sobha Oza dubbed the theory “absurd” and “highly objectionable”.

“Pragya Thakur has lost her equilibrium,” Oza added.

Thakur could not be reached for comment despite repeated phone calls.

When contacted, the state BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said: “Out party leaders are looking into the statement.”

Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case in Maharashtra, has made several controversial statements in the past. During the Lok Sabha election campaign this year, she called the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, Nathuram Godse, a true patriot, causing a flutter in the BJP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview with a news channel, reportedly said, “I will never be able to forgive Pragya Thakur for insulting Mahatma Gandhi.” She said she regretted making the statement.

She had previously said Mumbai’s anti-terrorist squad chief Hemant Karkare, who died in the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, had perished because of a curse had put on him when he was investigating the Malegaon blasts.

At another point of time, Thakur also claimed that cow urine had cured her of cancer.

Political analyst LS Hardenia said, “This is not the first time that Pragya Thakur has caused embarrassment to the BJP leadership. I don’t think she is going to mend her ways. It’s up to the party leadership to decide how to control her impulses.”