BHOPAL: Nine days after former Madhya Pradesh chief minister dubbed country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru a “criminal” for imposing Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the loudmouthed BJP MP from Bhopal seat Pragya Singh Thakur backed Chouhan’s statements on Monday.
When asked about what she felt about Chouhan’s August 10 remarks made in Bhubaneshwar, the 2008 Malegaon blast accused-turned-BJP MP Thakur said, “He (Chouhan) is the national office bearer of the BJP and his statement would have come only after serious thought. Whoever causes pain to India and works for its disintegration will certainly be criminal, there is no doubt about it.”
While taking about the Congress party’s opposition to abrogation of Article 370, she said, “It’s very clear, those rejoicing and feeling proud about the decision on repealing Article 370 are patriots, while those shedding tears over it can never be patriots. The reactions over the abrogation of Article 370 have clearly established who are with the country and who are against the nation".
Reacting to Thakur support to Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s controversial statements on Nehru, the Madhya Pradesh Congress’s media in-charge Shobha Oza said, “Be it Pragya Thakur or Shivraj Singh Chouhan or other BJP leaders, they are politicians espousing the ideology of Nathuram Godse (Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin). Such statements are not at all unexpected from such BJP leaders, be it statements against Mahatma Gandhi or Jawaharlal Nehru or else statements praising Godse. They don’t have any respect for the heroes of the country’s freedom struggle because none of their past leaders have participated in the freedom movement.”
On August 10, the ex-MP CM and present BJP national vice president Shivraj Singh Chouhan had courted political controversy in Odisha capital Bhubaneshwar, when he had dubbed former PM Jawaharlal Nehru “criminal” for announcing ceasefire in the first war with Pakistan in 1948 and imposing Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Two days later in Bhopal, Chouhan had stuck to his statement consequently coming under the attack of Congress leaders, including CM Kamal Nath, ex-CM Digvijaya Singh and MP cabinet ministers Jeetu Patwari and Sajjan Singh Verma.
Thakur too has been in news for making controversial statements about ex-Mumbai ATS chief Late Hemant Karkare and 1992 Ayodhya demolition, besides praising Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse as a patriot. A few weeks back, she was pulled up by the central BJP leadership for saying that she hadn’t become a lawmaker for cleaning toilets and drains.