The BJP MP from Bhopal, Pragya Thakur, knows how to keep controversies alive and stoke them further. Thakur, caught in a huge controversy after calling Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse a 'patriot' during a debate in Lok Sabha, has now dared a Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh to burn her alive.
Pragya's challenge came three days after Biaora Congress MLA Goverdhan Dangi said that he would burn the BJP alive if she came to Biaora. He later apologised and retracted his statements.
Pragya tweeted on Saturday that she would visit his house in Multanpura of Biaora in Rajgarh district at 4.00pm on December 8.
The MP, known for her controversial statements and belligerent attitude, first posted the viral video of Dangi's statement (from November 27) on Saturday afternoon with a caption in Hindi that could be translated as: “This is Congress MLA Goverdhan Dangi, special for Digvijaya Singh, nurturer of Rahul Gandhi's thoughts, supporter of Kamal Nath government and priest of non-violence”.
After about two hours, she posted another tweet (again in Hindi) saying, “The Congress members have long experience of burning (people) alive. (From Burning) Sikhs in 1984 to burning Naina Sahni in a tandoor. Rahul Gandhi called me a terrorist and his MLA Goverdhan Dangi will burn me. Ok then, I am coming to Biaora, to his house in Multanpura on December 8, 2019 at 4.00 pm. Burn me”.
Earlier, after the video of his statement went viral, Dangi had issued an apology and retracted his statement, saying that he did not mean any such thing. The Congress had distanced itself from his statement.
Dangi had made the statement while burning an effigy of Pragya after her statement on Godse in Lok Sabha. Pragya has apologised twice in the lower house for her remarks which had also led to her removal from the parliamentary panel on defence. She has called Godse a patriot on an earlier occasion, too.
Congress media cell chief Shobha Oza, while speaking to THE WEEK, said Dangi's statements were personal and the party did not endorse them. “We are a party of Gandhians and we stand by our non-violent values. We endorse no such thoughts. But terror-accused Pragya Thakur's reaction and challenging tone shows her attitude of violence clearly. Nothing more to say,” Oza said.
