Pragya Thakur's candidature is 'satyagraha' against fake case of 'Bhagwa terror': Amit Shah

Hitting back at the opposition for criticising Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur’s candidature for the Lok Sabha elections, BJP chief Amit Shah said that it was a ‘satyagraha’ against a fake case of ‘Bhagwa terror’ (saffron terror).

“Pragya Thakur's candidature is a 'satyagraha' against a fake case of bhagwa (saffron) terror. I want to ask Congress, some people were earlier arrested in Samjhauta Express who were related to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and later released. A compensation of Rs 5 lakh was given to them as part of votebank politics. A fake case of 'bhagwa terror' was made in which accused were released by the court,” Shah said while addressing the BJP’s press conference in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The entire Hindu community was defamed and Congress president should tender an apology for this," he added.

Thakur, who is out on bail in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, is the BJP’s candidate from Bhopal who is facing challenge from senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.

Reacting to Thakur’s remarks hailing Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse as “patriot”, Shah said the party will take appropriate action against her.

“Party has served her a show cause notice and asked her (Sadhvi) to reply within 10 days. After she files a reply, party's disciplinary committee will take appropriate action,” he said.

Earlier in the day, PM Modi had said that he will never forgive Thakur for insulting Mahatma Gandhi by calling his assassin a true patriot.

"The remarks made about Gandhiji or Nathuram Godse are very bad and very wrong for society," he said. "She has sought an apology but I would never be able to forgive her fully," he added.

Shah exuded confidence that Narendra Modi will return as the prime minister on May 23 and added that the BJP would win over 300 seats.