New Delhi: After going on record and calling Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse a "patriot," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha candidate and Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Thakur did a u-turn and apologised for the remark.
What did Sadhvi Pragya actually say?
While speaking to a private news channel in Agar Malwa in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, Sadhvi Pragya said, "Nathuram Godse was a deshbhakt (patriot), he is and will remain a deshbhakt. Those calling him a terrorist should instead look at themselves. They will be given a befitting reply in this election."
She had said this in response to a question over actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan's remark that free India's first terrorist was a Hindu, a reference to Godse.
Immediately after the news emerged, the BJP had distanced itself from the statement and had said that it did not agree with her as "Mahatma Gandhi's killer could not be a patriot." BJP's state unit in Madhya Pradesh had also gone on record to say that the party did not agree with her statement.
This is the second time Thakur has landed herself in the soup and has had to apologise after she made a comment on 26/11 martyr IPS officer Hemant Karkare last month. She had then said that Karkare died because of her 'curse' but had later apologised for her remark and retracted it.