Madhya Pradesh journalists demand apology from Pragya Singh Thakur after BJP MP calls local media ‘dishonest’

Sehore: Bhopal MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur courted controversy again after she called local media in the district “dishonest”, drawing the ire of journalists who demanded an apology and asked the BJP to expel her. Thakur made these comments on Tuesday when local reporters sought her reaction on various issues in the state ruled by the Congress. “I am speaking now, hear your praise. All media persons in Sehore are beimaan (dishonest),” Thakur said while laughing. [caption id=“attachment_6474881” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Sadhvi Pragya Singh, accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case and the BJP’s candidate from Bhopal. PTI[/caption] While the remarks were apparently made in a lighter vein, the media persons were not amused and a group of journalists later submitted a memorandum to the local administration demanding that she apologise for her remarks that have “angered” the fraternity. The memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi also demanded that she be expelled from the BJP and stripped of her Lok Sabha membership. Responding to a query on ongoing rains in the state at another place, she said, “Since Sadhvi has entered (politics), it has rained heavily”. Thakur had visited Sehore, which is part of the Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency, to distribute fruits to mark the occasion of Modi’s 69th birthday. Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case who is currently out on bail, had defeated her closest Congress rival Digvijaya Singh in her maiden election in May this year. Thakur has stoked controversies in the past with her remarks. She had called Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse a “patriot”. Additionally, while campaigning for the polls, she had said that ATS officer Hemant Karkare died during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack due to her “curse” for torturing her. In July, Thakur told BJP workers that she had not become a lawmaker to clean drains or toilets, an apparent dig at the Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan. Last month, she said the Opposition was using marak shakti (killing power) to harm BJP leaders, and that the evil power was behind the deaths of former Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj.