Sadhvi Pragya Thakur removed from parliamentary defence panel

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur has been removed from the parliamentary defence panel a day after she stated that Nathuram Godse, the man who murdered Mahatma Gandhi was a "patriot" during Lok Sabha proceedings. She made the statements yesterday, and the removal orders from BJP party came in today.

Sadhvi Pragya has not only been removed been from the Consultative Committee on Defence, but she can't attend BJP parliamentary party meetings till further notice.

On Wednesday, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla expunged Sadhvi Pragya's statements after they created an uproar in the parliament. DMK member A Raja cited a statement of Godse on why he killed Mahatma Gandhi during a discussion about Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill. He said that Godse himself confessed that he had a grudge against Mahatma Gandhi for 32 years before he decided to assassinate him. He added that Godse killed Gandhi because of his own philosophy.

In response, Pragya Thakur interrupted him saying, "You cannot give example of a Desh bhakti." inciting that Godse was a patriot. The BJP leaders immediately asked her to sit down when the opposition started to protest.

Pragya Singh Thakur is an accused in the Malegaon blast case of 2006. There was an uproar against her appointment into the defence panel as she herself is an accused in a blast that killed many innocents.