Was Mahatma Gandhi anti-national? Omar Abdullah's salvo at Pragya Thakur over 'Godse a patriot' remark

Barely hours after BJP candidate Pragya Singh Thakur stoked yet another controversy with her 'Nathuram Godse a patriot' remark on Thursday, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah took a dig at the former, asking if her statement means that Mahatma Gandhi was an anti-national. In a hard-hitting twitter post, Abdullah said, "If the killer of the father of the nation is a patriot, does that make Mahatma Gandhi anti-national?", without mentioning the name of Thakur.

If the killer of the father of the nation is a patriot does that make Mahatma Gandhi anti-national?

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 16, 2019

Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, ignited a fresh controversy by claiming that Godse "is and will remain a patriot". Speaking to a news channel during an election campaign in Madhya Pradesh, she 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".

Thakur was replying to a question over actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan's remarks that free India's first extremist was a Hindu, in a reference to Godse. The Madhya Pradesh BJP, however, has distanced itself from Pragya's statement saying it did not agree with her, as "Mahatma Gandhi's killer cannot be a patriot".

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This is not the first time that her extreme views have embarrassed the BJP after it fielded her from the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat against Congress leader Digvijay Singh, projecting her as a "victim" of the UPA government's "fake Hindu terror" theory.

Thakur was earlier forced to apologise after she claimed that IPS officer Hemant Karkare, who was killed by terrorists during the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, died as she had cursed him after her arrest in Malegaon blast case.