The BJP's Pragya Singh Thakur on Monday announced that she will go on a "maun vrat" or vow of silence after the on-going controversy over her comment that Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse was a patriot. She packed in one more apology in her tweet this morning - her second since the outcry.
She said, "After the elections, it is now time for reflection. If my words have hurt sentiment then I apologize and to atone for them, I will strictly follow 21 prahar (around three days) of silence."
Pragya will end her silence on Thursday, the day the results of the national election. She has contested against Digvijaya Singh of the Congress.
Last week, Pragya Thakur started this controversy where she claimed that Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin was a 'deshbhakt' (patriot), is a 'deshbhakt' and will remain a 'deshbhakt'. “People calling him a terrorist should instead look within, such people will be given a fitting reply in the election," she added.
She reportedly refused to apologize though the BJP prodded her to, denouncing and disowning her comments.
She eventually apologized but could not escape Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public censure. "I will, from my heart, never forgive them for insulting Bapu," PM Modi told a news channel.
But the BJP also made it clear that it planned no action against Thakur who is also an accused in the 2008 Malgaon attack. BJP president Amit Shah defended fielding Pragya Thakur in the election saying "her candidature is a 'satyagraha' against a fake case of saffron terror."
Pragya Thakur was reportedly on a "maun vrat" even last month, after saying in an interview to television channel TV9 over the weekend that she was among the people who demolished the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, and she was "proud" of it.
She had also been a part of the controversy where she declared that she had "cursed" Hemant Karkare, a celebrated officer who died fighting terrorists in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.