Pragya Thakur gets second EC notice for Babri remarks

The Election Commission yesterday issued a show cause notice to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Bhopal, for her controversial remarks about the Babri Masjid demolition.
This is the second notice issued by the election watchdog against Thakur since the BJP announced her candidature on Wednesday. She has been asked to reply by today.
In an interview to a television channel over the weekend, Thakur said she was among the people who demolished the Babri mosque in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 and that she was “proud” of it.
“We removed a blot from the country. We went to demolish the structure. I feel extremely proud that I got this opportunity and I could do that. We will make sure a temple is constructed at that site,” Thakur told the channel.
The first notice against Thakur was issued after she bragged that Maharashtra police office Hemant Karkare died at the hands of terrorists during the 26/11 attack in Mumbai because she “cursed” him for allegedly torturing her in jail.
“I had told him you will be finished, and he was killed by terrorists in less than two months,” she said.
Following a backlash, Thakur apologised admitting that Karkare was a “martyr”. The BJP distanced itself from her remark.
Retired army officer D S Hooda said he was hurt by Thakur’s remarks on Karkare.
Hooda’s statement came at a press conference organised by the Congress to release its national security plan prepared by him.
“Yes, it does hurt when such things are said about a martyr, be it from the army or the police. Full respect should be shown to them. These utterances are not good,” said Hooda, the former Commander of Northern Army, which carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan in September 2016 after the Uri terror attack.
The 49-year-old Thakur is an accused in the Malegaon blasts case in which six people died and around 100 were injured in 2006. She is currently out on bail and her candidature has been challenged in court by the father of one of the men who died in Malegaon.
The BJP has been facing criticism for fielding Thakur.
But she found an unexpected supporter in Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Asked why she was given the ticket, Modi said if the person responsible for 1984 riots against Sikhs could be made the prime minister what was wrong in fielding Thakur.