BJP MP from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur on Monday was pulled up by party working president J.P. Nadda for her controversial remarks that her duties as a lawmaker did not include cleaning toilets and drains. The remarks are seen as mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet sanitation programme “Swachh Bharat.”
Ms. Thakur was summoned to the BJP headquarters, where Mr. Nadda conveyed to her the party leadership’s displeasure with her comments made at Sehore in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday, party sources said.
Pejorative tone
The remarks were not only seen as mocking “Swachch Bharat” but were also termed casteist in nature due to implied pejorative tones towards those engaged in sanitation work.
Addressing a meeting of BJP workers in Madhya Pradesh, Ms. Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case who is currently out on bail, had said the job of an MP is to work with MLAs, corporators and public representatives to ensure development.
“So keep this in mind... We are not here for cleaning a drain. Is it clear? We are absolutely not (here) for cleaning your toilets. The work which we are supposed to do and elected for, we will do it honestly. This we had said in the past, saying it today and stick to it in future as well,” she said.
PTI adds:
But this is not the first time she has left the BJP red-faced.
During the Lok Sabha poll campaign, she had hailed Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse as a “patriot”.
She was forced to apologise after he comments triggered an outrage, and Modi went on to say that he would not be able to forgive her despite the apology . She was issued a showcause notice as well.
Thakur had also claimed that Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks due to her “curse” as she was “tortured” by police in custody . Even then she was forced to tender an apology.
