Group of former civil servants demands withdrawal of Pragya Thakur’s nomination

NEW DELHI: A group of 71 former bureaucrats of the All India Services on Wednesday wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealing him to rescind the nomination of his party’s Bhopal candidate Pragya Singh Thakur—a prime suspect in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

BJP candidate for Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur with BJP National Vice-President Shivraj Singh Chouhan before filing her nomination papers for Lok Sabha polls in Bhopal on April 23, 2019. PTI file photo

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 24

A group of 71 former bureaucrats of the All India Services on Wednesday wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealing him to rescind the nomination of his party’s Bhopal candidate Pragya Singh Thakur—a prime suspect in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

In the letter the former bureaucrats has expressed their sharp disapproval of the ruling party’s decision to nominate “a terror accused”. They also excoriated some controversial statements she passed after she was made the party’s nominee.

The letter reads: “We write to express our disbelief and dismay at the candidature of Pragya Thakur for the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat. This decision could have been dismissed as yet another example of political expediency but for the enthusiastic endorsement by no less a person than the Prime Minister of India, who has termed her candidature as a symbol of our civilisational heritage”.

They also condemned Thakur’s “curse” remarks on former ATS chief HemantKarkare, who was martyred in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Karkare was leading investigations into the Malegaon blast case in which Thakur is one of the key accused. Her comments have drawn scathing criticism from several quarters.

The letter also urges the citizens of the country to join the ex-officials in condemning unequivocally the statement of Pragya Thakur and in demanding that the BJP should withdraw her candidature.

Reminding the Prime Minister of his oath to uphold Constitutional values, the former bureaucrats appealed to him to take the lead in putting an end to the climate of fear and intimidation and communal viciousness that seem to be permeating the entire electoral process.

Pragya Thakur is facing trial under terror charges for the Malegaon 2008 attack in which six people were killed. She has also figured in investigations into several other cases of alleged Hindutva extremism.