Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, the sitting Member of Parliament from Bhopal representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has responded to being excluded from the party’s initial list of candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. She acknowledged that certain remarks she made in the past may have displeased Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leading to her omission from the candidate list.
In a statement, Pragya Singh Thakur stated, “I did not seek a ticket before, and I am not seeking one now. The use of certain words in my previous statements might not have pleased Prime Minister Modi, and he had expressed that I wouldn’t be forgiven. However, I had already apologized to him earlier.”
The BJP has chosen to replace Pragya Singh Thakur, who is currently facing trial in the September 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, with Alok Sharma, a former mayor, for the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat.
Pragya Singh Thakur’s political career has been marked by controversy. Prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, she stirred controversy by comparing Hemant Karkare, a decorated police officer who died in the line of duty during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, to mythological villains Ravan and Kans. Her subsequent remarks praising Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, as a patriot also sparked outrage.
Prime Minister Modi had previously condemned Pragya Singh Thakur’s remarks, stating that he would “never be able to forgive” her for insulting Mahatma Gandhi. Despite her electoral success in 2019, Pragya Singh Thakur’s controversial statements have continued to draw criticism and have led to her exclusion from the BJP’s list of candidates for the upcoming elections.
