Pragya Singh Thakur or Sadhvi Pragya is an Indian Politician and
spiritual guru and is an accused in the 2008
Malegaon terrorist bombings.
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Pragya Singh Thakur
Picture Credit- Scroll. in
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The verdict of
the court is still pending, and she became associated with a national party
which raised controversies. There are various MLA's and MP's who have serious
allegations against them, but Pragya Singh Thakur raised more
controversy.
She faced arrest for terror charges, but was
granted bail on following the dropping of charges under the MCOCA
section by the Special National Investigation Agency.
She is contesting as a BJP candidate in the 2019
General Elections of India from Bhopal constituency.
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| Bilkis Bano |
She is currently under trial for multiple charges
under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
She remains controversial due to her ‘being accused’
of ‘terrorist acts’. These terror charges have been framed under Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act.
Though the verdict of the court has not arrived yet, that remains a controversial position again.
Though the verdict of the court has not arrived yet, that remains a controversial position again.
She is the prime accused and principal conspirator
behind the September 2008 blast at Malegaon, in which six persons were killed.
Hindutva Nationalism and Pragya Singh
Thakur
An obvious problem with Pragya Singh’s candidacy is that she appears to have been chosen solely as a totemic representative of aggressive Hindutva nationalism. She was not prominent as a BJP member until she was named the candidate for Bhopal, where she will take on senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.
She is not only one accused, there are various
leaders which are corrupt and have criminal charges against them, however the
concern is that that ‘planting a bomb’ and targeting a particular community
remain a heinous act.
What happened in Malegaon?
Two blasts at Malegaon (2006 and 2008), the Samjhauta Express bombing near Panipat (February 2007), the explosions at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad (May 2007) and the Ajmer Dargah (October 2007) were linked to a fringe Hindu group called ‘Abhinav Bharat’, but the NIA had neither the political backing nor the ability to obtain convictions as per various reports.
Ms. Singh even put serious allegations against the
chief of the Mumbai Police Anti Terrorist Squad – Hemant Karkare. Regretfully,
Hemant Karkare was martyred in the 26/11 attack.
Should she fight the election?
Election law does not bar one facing criminal
charges from contesting, except those convicted of specified classes of
offences, or those that entail a sentence of at least two years.
If the mere pendency of a case was made a ground
for disqualification, a vindictive regime could get any political opponent
disqualified by merely slapping a criminal charge. That will further reduce the
democracy.
Thought, there should be change in laws that
‘terror charges’ are severe and either there should be a speedy trial
procedure, or people should not be allowed to contest in elections until they
clear their name. Especially political parties themselves can come to a
consensus that ‘a controversial candidate’ should not be allowed to participate
until the justice is done.
It may be difficult to get enough lawmakers to
agree to this significant change, but it can be a principle political parties adopt on their own.
There have been instances of Union Ministers resigning
from office as soon as charges were framed against them. There is no harm in
extending this norm to the selection of candidates and let the democracy be
cleaner.
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