BJP drops Pragya Thakur from Defence panel, condemns her Godse remark

New Delhi : BJP MP Pragya Thakur has been removed from the consultative committee of the defence ministry on Thursday, one day after she tagged Mahatma Gandhi's assassinator Nathuram Godse a patriot in the Parliament. This was not the first time she tagged Godse a patriot, but this time she made the remark in Lok Sabha.

"Not just calling Godse a deshbhakt (patriot), but we condemn even such thinking. Mahatma Gandhi's ideology is relevant now as much as it was before," Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, condemning his party MP on record in Lok Sabha today.

Earlier, the BJP denounced the remark and announced that she will be dropped from the parliamentary committee on defence headed by Rajnath Singh. "We have decided that Pragya Singh Thakur will be removed from the consultative committee of defence, and in this session she will not be allowed to participate in BJP parliamentary party meetings," said BJP's working president JP Nadda.

"Storm of lies becomes so big at times that even day appears to be night but the sun does not lose its light. People should not be swayed by this storm. Truth is that I did not tolerate insult to Udham Singh yesterday," Pragya Thakur tweeted in Hindi, defending her comments.

Pragya Thakur, first time MP from Bhopal, made comments against Mahatma Gandhi during her speech on SPG bill on Wednesday.