When RSS shunned Purohit, other Malegaon blast-accused for 'murder plot'

The outfit had written to former PM Manmohan Singh, bemoaning move to associate it with Purohit and his supporters, whom it claims had plans to kill RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and leader Indresh Kumar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday defended his party's decision to field Pragya Singh Thakur as its candidate from Bhopal, saying it was a symbolic response to those who falsely labelled the glorious Hindu civilisation as “terrorist”. Modi accused the Congress party for creating “false narratives” on saffron terror.

However, there was a time when the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of Modi’s party, had tried to distance itself from the “activities” of Lt Col Prasad Srikant Purohit and his associates, which included Thakur.

In a letter to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the RSS had bemoaned efforts at casting