Govt. condemns BJP MP's remark on Godse, slams opposition

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said the government condemns BJP lawmaker Sakshi Maharaj's remark describing Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse as a 'patriot', and accused the Congress party of raising this issue unnecessarily to disrupt the proceedings in the Parliament.

"The government has made it very clear that we don't endorse Sakshi Maharaj's statement. We have said that the government condemns such statement and it should be taken back. But our Congress friends are needlessly creating an issue out of it, they are always looking for reasons to go to the well of the Parliament and disrupt the proceedings of the house," Naidu told the media outside the Parliament here.

"The moment I came to know of this I told him that what he has said is wrong, he has taken back his statement and apologized," Naidu added.

Earlier in the day, Maharaj apologized in the Lok Sabha for his remarks on Nathuram Godse. His apology came in the wake of demand from the opposition parties, who wanted suspension of the Question Hour.

The BJP MP had earlier on Thursday said that Godse was a patriot like Mahatma Gandhi.