BHOPAL: A day after 2008 Malegaon blast accused Pragya Singh Thakur alleged a Congress conspiracy to kill her in 2008, the principal opposition party hit back at Thakur on Friday daring her for an open debate on nationalism and saffron terror. Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson, KK Mishra, said the allegations levelled by Thakur symbolised her frustration.
He also challenged her to a debate saying whenever she wanted, the Congress was ready for an open debate on any public forum on nationalism, patriotism, Hindutva and saffron terrorism.
The Congress leader also took a jibe at her by saying that Thakur was not acquitted in the case, but just granted bail.
He also questioned as to who opened the file of the December 2007 murder of RSS worker Sunil Joshi in 2011.
"Was a Congress government there in Madhya Pradesh when the closed file of the 2007 murder case was re-opened," asked Mishra.
It was, in fact, the present Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government during whose previous tenure in 2011 that the file was re-opened by MP police.
After being released on bail in the Malegaon blast case on Thursday after spending nine years in custody at jails and hospitals, Pragya Singh Thakur had alleged before journalists that the Congress had conspired to eliminate her in 2008.
She added that the UPA government had hatched a plot to frame her in false terror cases and the Mumbai anti-terrorism squad (ATS) had put the plot to task.
"The all men team led by Hemant Karkare (and also having among its ranks people like present Thane police higher-up Parambir Singh) took me from Surat to Mumbai in October 2008 and held me captive for 13 days. I was tortured to the extent that membrane of my lungs was torn. Never has any woman in independent India or prior to that been subjected to torture to that extent," said Thakur.
Pragya Singh Thakur's personal doctor, Dr SS Rajput, claimed that she has become partially paralysed possibly due to spine injuries inflicted by the ATS team.
Thakur, who was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on April 25, had also alleged that the word saffron terror is a brainchild of the then Union home minister P Chidambaram.
Hospitalised at Pandit Khushi Lal Sharma Ayurveda Hospital in Bhopal since 2015-end, Thakur is still undergoing treatment of breast cancer and injuries to the spine at the same hospital. She might be shifted to Mumbai or Lucknow for advanced treatment.