More than three years after she apologised in Parliament for her remarks hailing Nathuram Godse, BJP’s Bhopal MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur has again sought to portray the controversial figure as a deshbhakt during an Aaj Tak event in Bhopal.

“If he was a Hindu terrorist, why would he kill Gandhi,” asked the MP, who is facing trial in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, while speaking to anchor Shweta Singh of the GPS nanotechnology fame. “I would like to clarify that this is about ideology.”

While Singh’s opening question to Thakur was about the efforts she undertook during her nearly five years as MP, the Bhopal MP spoke about Hindutva themes, giving little space to development. In the conversation on stage, Singh did not cross-question or interrupt the firebrand Hindutva leader while the latter harped on about types of “jihad” and the supremacy of Sanatan Dharma. “There is just one dharma. There are panths and beliefs.”

In the second half of the conversation, Singh asked the MP whether she felt threatened by anyone, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks that he “would never forgive” the MP for her remarks on Godse ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The MP had drawn the party’s ire for her statement but was still given a ticket to contest the election from Bhopal, in a move which then BJP chief Amit Shah had termed as a “satyagrah” against the “fake case” against her.

“If the honourable prime minister said that ‘I will not forgive her’, it was about who he thinks he will not forgive: Sadhvi Pragya Singh, who is doing good work, or I, who did not even mention Gandhiji but Nathuram Godse – who was a patriot and took patriotic steps but faced punishment when a crime was committed.”

During a roadshow in Madhya Pradesh in 2019, Thakur had said, “Nathuram Godseji deshbhakt the, hai, aur rahenge unko aatankwadi kahne wale log swayam ki gireban me jhaank kar dekhe chunav mein aise logon ko jawab de diya jayega (Nathuram Godse was a patriot, is a patriot, and will remain a patriot and those who call him a terrorist should look within, they will get a reply in this election).”

In the conversation with Singh, the MP referred to the issue as “chhoti chhoti baatein” which have little significance as compared to the efforts undertaken by the “venerable prime minister” to elevate the country’s status on the world stage.

The Bhopal MP has termed Godse a patriot several times. In 2021, while hitting back at Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s remarks about Godse being the “first terrorist”, the MP had said he was a “patriot”.