By Florine Roche

Mangaluru, Apr 22: Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh took the challenge posed by Chief Minister Kamal Nath to contest from the toughest seat and chose capital of Madhya Pradesh Bhopal to test his political clout. He is now in for a real tough fight which he might not have expected. After dithering on a challenger to face Digvijay, BJP finally chose Sadhvi Pragya, a Hindu radical who is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. Sadhvi Pragya, a Hindu sanyasin has spent nine years in jail and is out on bail on health grounds. The contest between the two has electrified Bhopal making it a ‘hot seat’ and has attracted national attention for many reasons.

After the BJP announced her candidature for Bhopal Pragya broke down while addressing a press conference in Bhopal. Amidst tears rolling down she narrated that she was harassed and tortured after her arrest in 2008. Recalling her ordeal, she said that she was beaten up and tortured in illegal police custody for 23 days continuously during interrogation and was denied access to her lawyer and family members. "I was made to survive on just water for several days,” she said.

Television channels aired images of a tearful Pragya narrating her ‘trauma’ as they discussed threadbare the battle-ready Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency after her candidature was announced by the BJP. Opposition parties were quick to riposte that Pragya was shedding crocodile tears to garner sympathy of voters.

Pragya, the saffron-clad self-styled godwoman, known for her provocative statements stirred another controversy when she bragged saying ATS chief Hemanth Karkare died because she had cursed him. Her impudent remark has not gone down well and has evoked sharp criticism especially from the opposition and the IPS officers’ body for her impervious remark. Hemant Karkare was Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad chief who had investigated charges against Pragya in connection with the Malegaon blasts and was instrumental in unravelling the ‘Hindu terror’ link to the blasts. He was killed in fighting the terrorists along with two senior officers during the 16/11 Mumbai terror attack in 2008.

Pragya and Hindu terror

Hindu terror also known as saffron terror is a buzzword used to describe acts of terrorism perpetrated mainly by those associated with Hindu nationalist organizations like RSS or Abhinav Bharat. The term came to be widely used after the 2008 Malegaon bomb blasts. Hemanth Karkare who went on to probe the blasts as Chief of Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), tracked that the motorcycle used to carry out the bomb blast belonged to Pragya Singh Thakur. Pragya, an ABVP activist since her college days is also a member of the Hindu outfit Abinava Bharat and investigating agencies said the terror acts were carried out allegedly by right wing group Abhinav Bharat. Pragya along with 11 other accused including Purohit were arrested.

Pragya Singh Thakur belongs to the Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh, located in the heart of the Chambal ravines. Her father Chandrapal Singh Thakur, an Ayurvedic doctor was actively involved with the RSS and naturally Pragya too developed affinity to Hindu right- wing groups since her childhood. She was an ABVP member and was involved with VHP wing Durga Vahini and was noticed because of her fiery and often provocative speeches.

She was a tom-boyish teenager, who loved wearing jeans and T shirts, donned short har and loved riding motorbikes. Remember, the bike used for Malegaon bomb blasts was registered in her name. She was also known for thrashing eve teasers until they sought mercy. A post graduate in history Pragya came under the influence of Swami Aadhshanand Giri, who is a guru for many influential politicians in the country. Due to this association she became a hermit and since then is known as Sadvi Pragya.

Apart from an accused in the Malegaon blast Pragya also stands accused of murder, attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy and also of promoting enmity among different religions. She is also an accused in the murder case of former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi. It is said that Joshi was killed fearing that he might reveal details of the several blasts involving Hindu nationalist organizations.

Stirring a hornets’ nest

As expected, 48-year-old Sadhvi Pragya’s nomination has evoked sharp reaction from the opposition which views it as a tactic by the BJP to further polarize the society and create a communal wedge. A Congress leader has even approached the Election Commission seeking her nomination to be revoked. Many other opposition politicians have questioned how she is able to endure the rigors of a tough electoral battle when she has come out on bail on health grounds.

Pragya is an accused in the Malegaon bomb blasts of 2008 in a Muslim dominated area in Nashik district of Maharashtra in which seven persons were killed and 80 injured. She was arrested in 2008 and was in jail for 9 years. Pragya has been cleared of charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA). But she is still accused under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

The fight between the two opponents is significant because Pragya has accused Singh of conspiring to get her falsely accused in the Malegaon bomb blast. This battle for Bhopal is keenly looked forward to because it is also going to be a battle of prestige for the rival parties for more reasons than one.

First if Digvijay Singh wins he will reverse the 35-year political history of the constituency. Bhopal has been a saffron citadel and the last victory for the Congress was in 1984 when the sympathy wave swept the party to a landslide victory after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. If Digvijay loses he will cease to pose challenge to the supremacy of state Chief Minister Kamal Nath. It is believed that a cold war persists between Kamal Nath the incumbent chief minister and Digvijay Singh the former chief minister.

Pragya is the first accused of the ‘Hindu terror’ group embraced by the BJP to be fielded as a Lok Sabha candidate and the brazenness with which she has been fielded by the party has come in for sharp reaction. It is felt that a victory for Sadhvi Pragya will send out clear signal about the polarization of communities on religious ground and would further the communal agenda of the BJP.

Dharm Yudh or Battle of Ideologies

Sadhvi Pragya Thakur on her part has said the fight in Bhopal is going to be a “Dharm Yudd” and BJP fielded her as it wants a clear mandate from the ‘people’s court’ in this battle. Pragya has accused that her arrest in the Malegaon blast was a political ploy of the Congress as it wanted to endorse the bogey of ‘saffron terrorism’, a new phrase coined by the Congress after the Malegaon and Samjautha Express bomb blasts. Many BJP leaders have also remarked that Thakur is a victim of the conspiracy hatched by the Congress to ‘defame Hindus’.

With such a history behind her, no doubt her foray into politics as a BJP candidate has revoked such wide coverage and it has become a hot topic for discussion in political circles. Also, the fact that Bhopal has been a BJP bastion has heightened public interest in this constituency. Though the Bhopal seat is with the BJP for almost 35 years, the situation has changed following the BJP’s loss in the assembly elections in December 2018. Out of the 8 seats in this constituency Congress has won 3 seats and that prompted Digvijay Singh to try his luck in this ‘tough’ seat. Former President late Shankar Dayal Sharma was the last Congress leader to win the seat in 1984. From 1989, BJP’s Sushil Chandra had won the seat thrice and in 1999 Uma Bharati got elected from Bhopal a town in the heart of MP's Chambal ravines. The present incumbent is BJP’s Alok Sanjhar who vacated the seat for Pragya.

Considering that the stakes are high for both the BJP and the Congress Bhopal electoral fight is sure to be a high-profile battle. One the one hand the BJP will try its time-tested Hindutva card and the Congress will be in a tight spot where it can neither soft-pedal the Hindutva factor nor can it adopt an aggressive posture against it.