NEW DELHI: Wading into the furore over BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur’s remark, glorifying Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse on the floor of the Lok Sabha, senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh called for strict action against her on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Winter session, the Rajya Sabha MP said, “It (Sadhvi’s remark) is an insult to our Parliament and the ideals and principles it was founded on. I was shocked at the word used for Mahatma Gandhi’s killer inside the House. The BJP’s so-called action (dropping Pragya from the parliamentary panel on defence) is just an eyewash.
This isn’t the first time she’s said this. She’s a liar if she now claims that her remark was directed at someone else,” Singh said.
The fiery BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh, who has often been the target of the Opposition for her controversial remarks, drew howls of protest in the Lower House after she called Godse a ‘Deshbhakt’ (patriot). Earlier, she put the same epithet on the Mahatma’s killer while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.
A red-faced BJP switched to damage-control mode on Thursday, condemning the Sadhvi’s remark and removing her from the Parliament’s consultative committee on defence. She was also barred from the party’s parliamentary meetings during the ongoing Winter session.The disciplinary action against the Sadhvi was announced by BJP working president JP Nadda.
“We condemn her statement. It does not, in any way, reflect the views of our party,” Nadda said, with Parliamentary Affair Minister Prahlad Joshi by his side. Singh gave a suspension of business notice under rule 267 of the Rajya Sabha over Sadhvi’s remark.