Godse remarks: Congress MLA from MP threatens to burn alive Pragya Thakur, apologises later

Govardhan Dangi later claimed that he meant the people of Rajgarh district will boycott her.

A Congress MLA in Madhya Pradesh threatened to “burn” Bharatiya Janata Party MP Pragya Singh Thakur if she entered his constituency following her controversial remark calling Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse a “patriot” in Lok Sabha, PTI reported.

Congress MLA Govardhan Dangi issued the threat on Thursday but apologised on Friday, claiming it was a mistake.

“We will burn not just her effigy...if she sets foot here, we will burn her also,” the MLA said while speaking to reporters in Rajgarh district.

The Congress MLA from Biaora also staged a protest against Thakur’s comments. “Nothing can be more disgusting than praising Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin,” he said.

However, after his comments also triggered a controversy, Dangi said he firmly believed in the Gandhian principle of non-violence. “I meant to say that the people of Rajgarh district will boycott her,” he said. “There was some mistake in speaking. We are followers of Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence... I apologise for it.”

The state Congress unit distanced itself from Dangi’s comments.

Thakur on Friday apologised for her comments but maintained that she did not call Nathuram Godse a patriot.

Following her remarks, the BJP had on Thursday barred Thakur from attending any meeting of the parliamentary party and dropped her from the consultative committee on defence. The Opposition’s uproar had also prompted Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to tell the Lok Sabha that the BJP condemned any philosophy that described Godse as a patriot.

Thakur had claimed that she had made the remark in defence of revolutionary Udham Singh.

Opposition parties had attacked the government, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and claimed that the party’s “inaction” against Thakur proved its tacit support for her.

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