BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday, 23 April, said the party's Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate Pragya Singh Thakur was framed in false cases by those who had coined the term "Hindu terror" and indulged in vote bank politics.
He defended her candidature and called it an "absolutely right decision".
Thakur is in the eye of a storm for controversial statements that her "curse" led to former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare's death in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack and that she was proud to have participated in the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
Thakur is out on bail in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.
“A Hindu can never be a terrorist. They have fabricated false cases to frame her (Pragya Thakur). It was a conspiracy for vote bank politics.”Amit Shah, while addressing a rally at Rajnagar in Chhatarpur district
Defending her candidature, Shah said, "The allegations against her are false and the real culprits in the Malegaon blast case have evaded the law. It (fielding her) is absolutely a right decision. The allegations against her are baseless. Nothing against her has been proved."
Lashing out at the Congress' Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate Digvijaya Singh for coining the term "Hindu terror", Shah said it was done with an eye on a particular vote bank.
“I have come to tell the people of Madhya Pradesh that (in) our culture, our people even feed ants. A Hindu can’t be a terrorist. This (Malegaon blast case against Thakur) was a fake case made out by the Congress. In the Samjhauta Express and Mecca Masjid blast case judgements, it was clearly mentioned no such meeting took place. There was no such conspiracy.”Amit Shah
"I want to ask Diggi Raja (Digvijay Singh) today that you have said saffron terror exists. Hindu terror exists. We have fought the court battle and got acquitted. The verdict had come that no Hindu terror existed. It was a conspiracy and now I want to seek a reply from Congressmen on why they left those who had carried out the blast on the Samjhauta Express," Shah said, adding, the Congress had "defamed our culture".
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)