Cong questions PM's silence on Pragya Thakur's remarks on Godse

The Congress on Friday slammed the BJP over its leaders making controversial remarks on Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse, saying the Modi-Shah duo uses Gandhi for propaganda, but is "Godsewadi" in beliefs. The Pandora's box opened on Thursday with BJP's Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate and Malegaon blast accused Pragya Singh Thakur lauding Godse as a "patriot" and issuing an apology hours later, saying she respected Gandhi and his work for the country cannot be forgotten.

"No matter how much Modi ji tried to hide Godse's violent mask with Gandhi ji spectacles, but Mahatma Gandhi had said 'I believe and it has been my experience of many times that no matter how much a person calls himself able but his hidden bad deeds do come to the fore'," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. "Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, but from 2014-19, Modi ji's extremist supporters and followers have killed India's soul repeatedly by calling Godse a patriot," he said.

The Modi-Shah duo uses Gandhi in propaganda, but is "Godsewadi" in beliefs. Earlier, Congress leader Kapil Sibal questioned Prime Minister Modi's silence on Thakur's remarks describing Godse as a "patriot".

Under fire for her remarks, Thakur tendered an apology on Thursday night and said she respected Mahatma Gandhi as his work for the country cannot be forgotten. In a tweet, Sibal said, "When Sadhvi Pragya says: 'Godse a Deshbakht' and Modi is silent with Vidyasagar’s statue a victim of the violent I can only pray for my country and hope that one day the silent majority will keep violence at bay (sic)".

Senior Congress leader and former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah also condemned Thakur's remarks and said Godse was inspired by RSS ideology. "Godse was inspired by Sangh Pariwar's ideology & so is Pragya. Former killed our Mahatma & the latter killed Mahatma's children. Pragya who calls Godse a patriot is endorsed by @narendramodi Is this the sign of an attempt to proliferate Sangh's hatred based ideology," he tweeted.

As the row over Thakur's remarks escalated, BJP's MP from Karnataka Nalin Kumar Kateel compared Godse with former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi "Godse killed one, Kasab killed 72, Rajiv Gandhi killed 17,000. You judge who is more cruel in this??" Kateel tweeted on Thursday, equating Godse, 26/11 Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab and Rajiv Gandhi.

Union minister Anantkumar Hegde also found himself in the news with a purported tweet justifying Godse's action. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)