Khargone: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Friday he will never forgive BJP candidate Pragya Singh Thakur for insulting Mahatma Gandhi by calling his assassin Nathuram Godse a true ‘patriot’.
Modi told a TV channel during his last rally here ahead of the last phase of voting in the Lok Sabha polls that Pragya’s comments were detrimental to society.
“Whatever has been said about Gandhi or Godse, these kinds of statements are very bad and worth contempt. In a cultured society, this type of language is not permissible. This type of thinking won’t do. Therefore, those who are doing this have to think a hundred times. Though she has apologised, I won’t be able to pardon her with my heart,” Modi said.
Pragya during a roadshow in Madhya Pradesh, had said, “Nathuram Godseji deshbhakt the, hai, aur rahenge unko aatankwadi kahne wale log swayam ki gireban me jhaank kar dekhe chunav mein aise logon ko jawab de diya jayega (Nathuram Godse was a patriot, is a patriot, and will remain a patriot and those who call him a terrorist should look within, they will get a reply in this election).”
Pragya was responding to a comment made by actor-turned-politician Kaman Haasan, who said Godse was the first Hindu terrorist in independent India.
The Malegaon blast accused later apologised for her statement, but it looks like it will not be enough for Modi.
Earlier in the day Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the BJP over its leaders making controversial remarks on Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse, stating the party and the RSS are not ‘God-ke Lovers’ but ‘God-se Lovers’.
“I finally got it. The BJP and the RSS… Are not God-Ke Lovers. They are God-Se Lovers,” Rahul tweeted.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also slammed the BJP. “No matter how much (Narendra) Modi ji tried to hide Godse’s violent mask with Gandhi ji spectacles, but Mahatma Gandhi had said ‘I believe and it has been my experience of many times that no matter how much a person calls himself able but his hidden bad deeds do come to the fore’, spokesperson Surjewala said.
“Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, but from 2014-19, Modi ji’s extremist supporters and followers have killed India’s soul repeatedly by calling Godse a patriot,” he added.
Agencies