'Honoured to be associated with martyr': Digvijaya Singh responds to Sumitra Mahajan's charge that Hemant Karkare made arrests on his behalf

Congress veteran and the party’s candidate from Bhopal, Digvijaya Singh, has responded to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s claim that late Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare made arrests on his behalf, saying that he was “honoured” to have been connected with the “Ashok Chakra winning martyr”.

“Sumitra tai, I am proud that you connect me with Ashok Chakra winning martyr Hemant Karkare. Even if your colleagues insult them, I am proud that I have always been with the people who talk of national unity and integrity,” Digvijaya wrote on Twitter.

सुमित्रा ताई, मुझे गर्व है कि अशोक चक्र विजेता शहीद हेमंत करकरे के साथ आप मुझे जोड़ती हैं।आपके साथी उनका अपमान भले ही करें, मुझे गर्व है कि मैं सदैव देशहित, राष्ट्रीय एकता और अखंडता की बात करने वालों के साथ रहा हूँ। https://t.co/6vD0i0UZF2

— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) April 29, 2019

Days after Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bhopal candidate for the Lok Sabha election Pragya Singh Thakur courted controversy after saying Karkare had died in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai because she had cursed him, Mahajan, on Sunday, shed doubt on the IPS officer’s steadfastness as an ATS officer.

The BJP’s seven-time MP from Indore, who was earlier in the news for  writing that she was uninterested in contesting the 2019 polls, told The Indian Express that while Karkare was a “martyr”, his role as a police officer was not above board.

In an interview to the newspaper, she said, “There are two aspects to Hemant Karkare. He became a martyr because he died in line of duty, but if his role as a police officer was not correct, we will say it was not correct.”

Mahajan, however, said she had no evidence to substantiate the claim that Digvijaya and Karkare had, indeed, been friends.

Moreover, she claimed it was not just Pragya who was allegedly tortured in custody but also one Dilip Patidar, who was picked up by the Maharashtra ATS in 2008 and has disappeared since.

The BJP had sought to stress on the “torture” angle while distancing itself from Pragya’s controversial comment, saying it was her personal view that she might have made “due to years of physical and mental torture”.

Among those who have criticised Pragya were Maharashtra chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis who said her comments were “ extremely wrong ” and advised her to be “careful”.