New Delhi / Bhopal: Controversial BJP MP Pragya Thakur, accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, has been appointed to a parliamentary committee on defence, triggering a political row as the Congress on Thursday attacked the government for nominating a person charged with “spreading terror” to a panel tasked with defence- related issues.
The ruling BJP, however, strongly defended her presence in the 21-member joint consultative committee headed by defence minister Rajnath Singh and asserted that the Bhopal MP can help in “framing right methodology” so that innocents are not “victimised” the way she was by the Congress-led UPA government.
Three-time chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah, who is detained in Srinagar under the stringent PSA, former defence minister and NCP leader Sharad Pawar and BJP working president J.P. Nadda are among the other committee members.
However, it was the presence of Thakur, a first-time MP with a hardline Hindutva background and who has triggered several rows earlier with her controversial remarks, that became a lightning rod for yet another political joust involving her.
She is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, and is currently out on bail. She is facing trial for multiple charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Congress on Thursday regretted her nomination to the panel, describing it an “insult to defence forces, parliamentarians and every citizen of India”.
“It is unthinkable that a person who is facing charges under sections of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Indian Penal Code, the Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act could be nominated to a parliamentary panel. It is not good for democracy,” Pankaj Chaturvedy, spokesman of Congress here said on Thursday.
“Pragya Thakur, a terror accused and Godse fanatic has been nominated by the BJP govt. to be a member of the Parliamentary Panel on Defence. This move is an insult to our nation’s defence forces, to our nation’s esteemed parliamentarians & to every Indian”, a tweet by AICC said (sic).
The constitution of 21-member parliamentary consultative committee on defence has been notified on October 31.
Pragya had made uncharitable comments against Maharashtra anti-terrorist squad chief Hemant Karkare, martyred in Mumbai 26/11 terror attack, inviting action by Election Commission a couple of weeks before 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
She had later glorified Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse calling him a ‘patriot’ triggering nationwide outrage.
Pragya had recently sparked a controversy when she snubbed her constituents for complaining lack of hygiene and cleanliness in Sehore, part of her constituency, by saying, “I am not elected to get drains and toilets cleaned”.
BJP has, however, defended her nomination to the defence panel. “She is a member of parliament and hence she has every right to be member of a parliamentary panel like other members of the parliament”, BJP spokesman here Rajneesh Agrawal said.
The consultative committee also includes Trinamul’s Sougata Roy and DMK’s A. Raja. Besides the 21 MPs, the committee also has Arjun Ram Meghwal and V. Muraleedharan, both junior ministers for parliamentary affairs, as its ex-officio members.
The panel comprises 12 members from Lok Sabha and nine from Rajya Sabha.
