Godse row: BJP axes Pragya from def panel; Rahul says remark reflects 'heart and soul' of BJP-RSS

Amidst a raging row over its MP Pragya Thakur's Godse remark in Lok Sabha, the BJP on Thursday barred her from attending its parliamentary party meeting and removed her from the consultative committee on defence, even as the Congress stepped up its attack over the issue with its leader Rahul Gandhi asserting that her comment reflected the "heart and soul" of the saffron party and the RSS.

Under attack from several quarters, Thakur defended her remark, insisting that her controversial comment made in Lok Sabha was against the "insult" to revolutionary Udham Singh and claimed that a "storm of lies becomes so big at times that even day appears to be night".

Thakur triggered the controversy on Wednesday with her remark in the Lower House of Parliament during DMK member A Raja's narration of a statement by Nathuram Godse before a court on why he killed Mahatma Gandhi. Her remark was expunged by the Lok Sabha Speaker.

Cracking the whip on its serial-offender, the BJP barred Thakur from attending its parliamentary party meeting in the ongoing Parliament session and removed her from the consultative committee on defence.

"The statement given by MP Pragya Thakur is condemnable. BJP never supports such statement and we do not support this ideology," BJP working president J P Nadda said while announcing disciplinary action against Thakur.

The Congress, however, dismissed the action as "too little too late" and asked why the BJP was not expelling her from the party.

The issue reverberated in Parliament as well with the Opposition strongly taking up the issue in Lok Sabha.

Amid opposition protests, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said his party condemns any philosophy which describes Mahatma Gandhi's killer as a patriot.

"Far from talking about Nathuram Godse being called a patriot, we condemn the idea of treating him as a patriot. His (Gandhi's) philosophy was, is and will remain relevant and he is as a guide (margdarshak) for the nation," Singh said.

Not satisfied with the response, the MPs belonging to the Congress, Trinamool Congress, the DMK, Left parties, the NCP and the AIMIM staged a walkout.

However, members of the BSP, the BJD, the TDP and the TRS remained seated in the House.

In a scathing attack on Thakur for her remarks, Gandhi called her a "terrorist" and said her remark reflected the "heart and soul" of the BJP and RSS and this cannot be hidden.

"Terrorist Pragya calls terrorist Godse, a patriot. A sad day, in the history of India's Parliament," he tweeted.

Thakur remains an accused in the Malegaon blasts case.

Later, speaking to reporters in Parliament premises, Gandhi said, "What Pragya Thakur is saying is the heart of the BJP and the RSS. That is the centre of the BJP, that is the heart of the RSS. This cannot be hidden. It is their soul and it will come out somehow. No matter how much that they worship Gandhiji, this is their soul."