We have nothing to do with her; she never campaigned for the BJP, says state Bajrang Dal chief

Once in the police net, sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur may now find herself entirely disowned by the saffron quarter altogether.

Bajrang Dal Gujarat Chief Ranchhod Bharwad toed the Sangh line already spelt out by the RSS Sangh Chalak (North), Bajranglal Gupta, on Friday. Bharwad told Newsline that the arrest of the sadhvi is an attempt to malign the Hindu forces. “They are asking for a ban on the RSS, the ABVP and the Bajrang Dal, when the fact is that no Hindu can ever be an extremist,” Bharwad said. He also denied that Pragya had ever campaigned for the BJP in Gujarat. Hum ne kabhi suna nahi (We have never heard of it), was all he said.

It may be mentioned here that Bajranglal Gupta had categorically denied the involvement of either the ABVP or the Rashtriya Jagaran Manch in the violence. “The security agencies have named only individuals and linking the organisation with terror is a political move to divert attention from the SIMI and the Indian Mujahidheen,” he had said in a press conference in Ahmedabad on Thursday, washing his hands clearly off the Sadvhi. “The law should take its own course,” he had said.

Interestingly, sources in the Sangh admit that the sadhvi did have an RSS background and had campaigned for the BJP in Gujarat during the Assembly elections in 2002 and 2007. Gujarat BJP President Parshottam Rupala, however, mixed no words in saying that he doesn’t even know her.

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