Pragya Singh Thakur
Pragya Singh Thakur | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 23 May 2019 – 4 June 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Alok Sanjar |
| Succeeded by | Alok Sharma |
| Constituency | Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Pragya Chandrapal Singh Thakur 2 February 1970 Lahar, Bhind, Madhya Pradesh, India |
| Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Parent(s) | Dr. C. P. Singh, Sarla Singh |
| Residence(s) | B 29-74, Bungalow, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India |
| Known for | Member of Parliament, and one of the prime accused in 2008 Malegaon blasts |
| Source: | |
Pragya Singh Thakur (born 2 February 1970; Hindi pronunciation: [pɾəgjaː sɪŋgʱ ʈʰaːkʊɾ]), better known as Sadhvi Pragya (Hindi: [saːd̪ʱ.ʋiː pɾəgjaː]), is an Indian politician and former Member of Parliament who represented Bhopal and belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party. During her college days, she was an active member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and later joined various affiliate organisations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
She is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bombings where 10 people were killed and 82 more were injured. She was arrested on terror charges after her bike was found to be used in the bomb blast. She is currently under trial for multiple charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. In 2017 she was granted bail on health grounds following the dropping of some of the serious charges by the National Investigation Agency.
Thakur contested the 2019 Indian general election from Bhopal constituency, running against Digvijaya Singh of the Indian National Congress, the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. She won her debut contest by a margin of 364,822 votes.
On 21 November 2019 Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was made a part of the 21-member parliamentary consultative committee on defence, which is headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. After her comment in parliament, where she called Nathuram Godse (Gandhi's assassin) a patriot, she was criticised by opposition party members. On 28 November, she was removed from the committee on defence as well as BJP parliamentary party meetings.