Lok Sabha polls 2024: Was Sadhvi Pragya too controversial for the BJP? Here’s why saffron party bid her adieu this time

Lok Sabha elections news: In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls 2024, the BJP has unveiled its initial list of 24 candidates for Madhya Pradesh, featuring notable figures like ex-Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The announcement on Saturday introduced a total of 195 candidates. 

Notably, Bhopal MP Pragya Singh Thakur has been replaced by former mayor Alok Sharma. Candidates for five seats -- Indore, Chhindwara, Balaghat, Ujjain, and Dhar -- are yet to be announced.

Thakur, known for her controversial statements and facing allegations in the Malegaon blast case, had won the 2019 elections against Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh by a margin of 3.65 lakh votes. Despite winning the 2019 elections against Digvijaya Singh with a solid margin, why did the BJP drop Sadhvi Pragya this time? 

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur: Controversy’s favourite child 

Her tenure as an MP has been marked by controversies, including her comments on late ATS chief Hemant Karkare and the 'Godse' remark in Parliament. Sadhvi Pragya, who is facing accusations in the Malegaon blast case, triggered furore when before the 2019 elections, she equated the former Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) chief late Hemant Karkare to mythological figures like Ravana and Kansa. Her comments were met with a show-cause notice from the Election Commission of India. 

After this, another video surfaced wherein the Lok Sabha MP can be heard abusing the late Mumbai ATS chief during a public rally in Bhopal. In this video, Thakur said she cursed Karkare while the latter was questioning her. 

“I said your destruction will come. The mourning period lasts for exactly one and a quarter months. The day I went, on that very day, its mourning period began. And on that exact day, one and a quarter months later, the terrorists killed him, and his end came,” she can be quoted as saying in the video. 

Not only defaming the dead, Sadhvi Pragya was also in the news the same year when she called Nathuram Godse, the man who killed Mahatma Gandhi, a deshbhakt (patriot). The BJP MP interrupted parliament proceedings when DMK’s A Raja referred to a statement by Godse on why he killed Gandhi. 

“You cannot give the example of a deshbhakt (patriot),” Thakur said. Following this, Thakur was removed from the consultative committee on defence and was prevented from participating in the parliamentary party meet during the 2019 winter session of Parliament. Her comments were, however, expunged from the records. 

Besides defending Godse in Parliament, Thakur sparked controversy in December 2022 when she said Hindus have the right to safeguard themselves and respond if someone infiltrates their homes. “Keep weapons in your homes. If nothing else, at least keep the knives used to cut vegetables sharp… Don’t know what situation will arise when… Everyone has the right to self-protection. If someone infiltrates our house and attacks us, giving a befitting reply is our right,” she said at the time. 

Besides this, she said during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that cow urine extract protects one against coronavirus and lung infections.

Sadhvi Pragya as a parliamentarian

Besides being controversial, Sadhvi Pragya was not very active in the Parliament. Her attendance in the Lok Sabha was 66 per cent, 13 per cent lower than the national average of 79 per cent and 20 per cent lower than the state average of 86 per cent. 

During her tenure as an MP, she has only participated in 19 debates so far compared to the national average of 46.7 and the state average of 34.3, as per PRS Legislative Research data. Sadhvi Pragya has asked only 36 questions in the lower house, which is very low compared to the national average of 210 and the state average of 168. She has not tabled any private member’s bill in the Lok Sabha.