Malegaon terror accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur has been given a ticket by the BJP to contest from Bhopal for the Lok Sabha polls. Choosing a terror accused who is out on bail and hasn’t been acquitted yet, to be a people’s representative is drawing flak on Twitter.
Journalist Shivam Vij said Sadhvi Pragya is Narendra Modi’s answer to unemployment, economic slowdown and farm distress.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan said communalism is BJP’s last gambit.
Journalist Swati Chaturvedi said no other party is as toxic as the BJP.
Message Of Polarisation
Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai said BJP has sent a clear message: religious polarisation at all costs.
Lyricist Javed Akhtar said Sadhvi Pragya is the perfect personification of Sangh Parivar’s thoughts and actions.
One Twitter user asked India to “vote carefully or watch helplessly as criminals and bullies take over your freedoms.”
Another Twitter user drew a comparison between DU professor GN Saibaba arrested for his alleged Maoist links and Pragya Thakur. “Both arrested under UAPA. One is out on bail and freaking contesting elections. The other, an invalid, isn't even allowed medical care, let alone bail,” he pointed out.
Not Digvijay Vs Pragya War
Twitterati also reminded that this is more than a war between Digvijay and Pragya. “This is about the ruling party fielding an alleged terrorist booked under UAPA for being the key accused in two blasts killing close to a hundred muslims,” said journalist Rana Ayyub.
“It is a politician, however controversial, versus a terror accused out on bail,” said journalist Swati Chaturvedi.
BJP Has Hit Rock Bottom
Journalists Shoma Chaudhury and Sadhanand Dhume said BJP has hit rock bottom with this move.
Everyday the BJP slides further toward extremism, one Twitter user said.
Normalised Terror
Some Twitter users pointed out how it would be if anyone else had fielded a terror accused. PDP President Mehbooba Mufti said, “according to these guys, terror has no religion when it comes to saffron fanatics but otherwise all Muslims are terrorists.”
One Twitter user said if AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had fielded a Muslim candidate accused of bombing, the Indian media would have hounded him. “But with Pragya Thakur, the silence is damning. Either saffron terror is scaring or it is accepted,” she said.
Pragya Hasn’t Been Acquitted
Some Twitter users, including Executive Editor of Network 18, Amish Devgan said that Pragya has been acquitted. Journalists and other Twitters users busted this claim and cleared that she is out on bail.
By giving terror accused Pragya Thakur a space in politics, BJP seems to have made furthering communal hatred its clear agenda.
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