BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur has been nominated to the 21-member Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Defence.
The Bhopal MP is an accused in the Malegaon blasts case. However, she was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on health grounds in 2017.
Thakur had defeated former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year, to become the Bhopal MP.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be chairing the committee, which comprises of 12 members from Lok Sabha and 9 from Rajya Sabha.
Farooq Abdullah, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, who is detained under the controversial Public Safety Act, is also a part of the consultative committee.
Minister of State for Defence Shripad Yesso Naik, BJP's JP Nadda and NCP leader Sharad Pawar are also members of the panel, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
The Bombay High Court, in 2017 granted Thakur bail after the NIA dropped charges of Organised Crime against her. She is currently under trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Thakur has often been in the limelight over her controversial statements, like claiming that Maharashtra ATS Chief Hemant Karkare, was killed in the 26/11 attacks due to her curse. She once called Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse a patriot, for which she was issued a show cause notice by the BJP.
She had also attributed the deaths of Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley to 'marak shakti' (killing power) used by the BJP's political adversaries.
The move attracted criticism from journalists, activists and political rivals. The Congress party said that the move is a huge insult to the nation’s defence forces.
Congress Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, “It is unfortunate for the country that an MP accused of spreading terror has been nominated as member of a defence-related committee.”
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had condemned Thakur’s statements and said that he would never be able to forgive her.
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