‘The way she was tortured … ‘: Uma Bharti remembers Pragya Thakur’s jail time; hails Malegaon blast verdict | India News

Uma Bharti (left), Sadvi Pragya Thakur (ANI, PTI)

Senior BJP leader and former union minister Uma Bharti on Thursday hailed the court’s verdict on 2008 Malegaon blast in which all seven accused have been acquitted, including former BJP MP Pragya Thakur, emphasising that terror has no colour. She added that Congress and especially former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh, must apologise for peddling the fake narrative of “ Hindu terror” and defaming “saints”.While talking to reporters after the verdict Bharti responded to the allegations of ‘bhagwa aatankwaad (Saffron terrorism)’ saying, “terrorism has no colour”.“Assigning colours to terrorism was the doing of those who claimed to speak for minorities. In doing so, they coined terms that politicised and distorted the nature of terrorism. Terrorism, in truth, has no colour. Yet the way some spoke about it was misleading,” as quoted by news agency PTI. She went on to say saffron is a sacred colour worn by freedom fighters of the country and to equate it to terrorism is a sin.“The Rajputs of our country, our kings, and all those who fought against the Mughal rulers and the British, wore saffron turbans and laid down their lives for the country’s freedom. To associate that sacred colour with terrorism is a sin.” said former Madhya Pradesh chief minister. The BJP veteran while speaking to ANI broke down in tears, remembering Pragya Thakur.She said that the way Pragya was tortured in jail, it is very difficult for any woman to bear that. Bharti blamed several political parties for labelling her and others under the term ‘Bhagwa terror’.Bharti went on to suggest propagators of these falsehoods and which caused such suffering must be held accountable and face consequences. Adding innocents were falsely implicated to support that narrative.“And to prove such a narrative, innocent people were framed. It saddens me to recall how a colonel, honoured with great distinction, and a saint, revered by many, were subjected to unimaginable physical torture. Countless others, whose names never even surfaced, suffered in silence. Swami Aseemanand, too, was tortured…No, we should not even ask for forgiveness for speaking the truth. Those who fabricated these lies and inflicted such pain should be held accountable and punished,” she told reporters. Nearly 17 years after the Malegaon blast in north Maharashtra that killed six people, a special Mumbai court on Thursday acquitted all seven accused, including Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit. The court ruled there was “no reliable and compelling evidence” against them, emphasizing that terrorism has no religion and conviction cannot be based on mere perception.