Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur’s Candidature An Affront To The Hindus – by Shajahan Madampat
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have thrown the Hindus in India into a quandary. The ruling party has literally asked them to choose terrorism over pluralism, hate over harmony and mobocracy over democracy.…
The issue came up in public debate after the BJP nominated Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in Malegaon blasts case, as a candidate in Bhopal, the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh. This is the first time a major political party in India is fielding a candidate accused of terrorism. Pragya is a key accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, in which six people died and more than 100 sustained injuries. Pragya is currently facing trial under stringent sections of The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in a Mumbai court, and is out on bail on health grounds.
According to the charge sheet filed by the Maharastra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Pragya was part of most meetings of the radical Hindutva activists from 2006 onward, at which plans to target Muslim-majority areas for terrorist acts were discussed. More significantly, the investigators traced the motorcycle used for the blast in Malegaon to Pragya. Her hateful utterances before the attacks lent credibility to the accusations, as she had often spewed venom against the Muslims in her speeches and media appearances.…
SEE ALSO:
- Sadhvi Pragya Thakur: Cherry-picking innocence, Hindutva style – By Vivek Deshpande (Apr 21, 2019, Indian Express)
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/sadhvi-pragya-thakur-malegaon-blasts-bjp-candidate-from-bhopal-hindutva-style-5686541/ - Hubris & its Political Consequence – By Shankkar Aiyar (Apr 21, 2019, New Indian Express)
http://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/columns/shankkar-aiyar/2019/apr/21/hubris–its-political-consequence-1966888.html - Sadhvi Pragya as BJP Candidate: How the SC Missed an Opportunity to Cleanse Politics – By Venu Sundaram (Apr 18, 2019, The Wire)
https://thewire.in/law/sadhvi-pragya-as-bjp-candidate-how-the-sc-missed-an-opportunity-to-cleanse-politics - Sadhvi Pragya Thakur’s connection to Hemant Karkare – By Sadaf Modak (Apr 20, 2019, Indian Express)
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-what-is-sadhvi-pragya-thakurs-connection-to-hemant-karkare-5684747/
