Ex-bureaucrats write against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur
NEW DELHI: A group of retired bureaucrats have issued an open statement expressing disbelief and dismay at the candidature of Pragya Thakur for the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat. The group, comprising 71 bureaucrats, has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw her candidature saying he cannot escape the irony of his party seeking votes in the name of fighting terrorism and at the same time endorsing the candidature of a person accused of terror crimes.
The bureaucrats have also called on the citizens to condemn unequivocally the statement of Pragya Thakur, demand that the BJP withdraw her candidature, while reminding the PM of his oath to uphold Constitutional values. They have also urged him to take the lead in putting an end to the “climate of fear and intimidation and communal viciousness that seems to be permeating the entire electoral process”.
“We appeal to the Prime Minister of India to unequivocally condemn, through actions and statements, the existence of terror in any form. He cannot escape the irony of his party seeking votes in the name of fighting terrorism and at the same time endorsing the candidature of a person accused of terror crimes. Martyrdom cannot be selectively appropriated or given up for the pursuit of political ambition,” the letter said.
On BJP’s decision to field the Sadhvi, they said, “This decision could have been dismissed as yet another example of political expediency but for the enthusiastic endorsement by no less a person than the Prime Minister of India, who has termed her candidature as a symbol of our civilisational heritage.”
It said, “To institutions like the Election Commission and the Judiciary, we would like to point out that their efforts to contain the politics of divisiveness and of hate have had little impact so far. It is necessary to be far more proactive to stamp out this aberration.”
plea seeking bar on Pragya junked
A special NIA court in Mumbai on Wednesday dismissed a plea that sought to bar Pragya Thakur, prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, from contesting the ongoing Lok Sabha election. Nisar Sayyad, father of a victim of the blast, had moved court last week urging it to bar Thakur from contesting the polls. The plea was filed after the accused joined the BJP and was fielded by the party from Bhopal, where she will take on Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh. Special NIA judge VS Padalkar, while rejecting the plea, said that the lawyers were well aware that this was not the proper forum. “This court has not granted bail...wrong forum has been chosen,” he said. Reacting to the ruling, the BJP’s Bhopal nominee said, “Truth is truth. Truth and dharma always win.”