Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur: Hit or miss for both Congress and BJP

That’s what it all comes down to. BJP, after initial vacillation, decided that the ATS does not have enough proof to hold up its case against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and declared that it is all politically motivated. What exactly does the Congress think? No one has any idea. Lalu Prasad Yadav has as always gone overboard, and declared Advani the biggest terrorist in India. Wow.

Photo: Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur

Let’s get back to the Sadhvi and figure out what’s the latest on the case.

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur is an accused in the Malegaon blast. She was produced in court today, where she has alleged that she has been tortured and ill-treated by the Anti-Terrorism Squad.

Well, its our cops, and its a terrorist-suspect. What do you expect? Our cops are expected to ill-treat every suspect anyway, sometimes people who are not even suspects. I would say talking to an Indian cop often is a form of ill-treatment and psychological torture in itself. But then on the other hand you have someone who might really be behind the Malegaon blasts – and then accusing the ATS of ill-treatment and torture is the natural thing to do, too.

It was not just Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakurin the court – Abhinav Bharart member Samir Kulkarni, former Army officer Ramesh Upadhyay and five other accused also were there for company.

In court, the Sadhvi also said that she did not know what the charges were against her as the chargesheet was in English. I am a bit curious about that – she is college-educated and all, isn’t she? Was she a bad student? Or perhaps she can read English but would comprehend stuff better if in Hindi. No matter. The defendant should know what the charges are – our system is quite weird that way. We would get stuff in English when we expect Hindi, and when you need something in Hindi, it would be in English. Who has created these amazing systems?!

Last Wednesday, Bharatiya Janata Party General Secretary Gopinath Munde had alleged that the Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was subjected to three narco-analysis tests, while the Indian Mujahideen (IM) activists arrested in connection with the serial blasts in Ahmedabad and Delhi were not subjected to such tests.

I love that comparison. Aren’t you saying, why are you treating our terrorism-suspect worse than their terrorism suspects?

But more seriously – that’s not factually correct, says the ATS. The Narco-analysis is not a single test – there is a main test and several sub-tests and sometimes they are done in a staggered manner it seems. Fine.

But where is all this going?

Frankly, despite my suspicion that the ATS and the Congress are right about the Sadhvi, and that she may have a role in the Malegaon blasts, I have no confidence in the investigation.

Our investigative agencies have consistently failed to secure convictions for terrorism-suspects. Whether they were guilty or not. Same goes for Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. Even if she is guilty, our atrocious investigators are almost guaranteed to mess it up and have the courts let her go free. How the Congress would be wishing for POTA!

That is the real reason for POTA – as we cannot convict anyone as our only way of investigation is to harass, threaten, and use third degree and threaten and sometimes assault family members, the only thing our investigators can really do is to apply POTA and keep someone behind bars for as long as possible. Or an ‘encounter’ where the suspect is summarily executed.

So, all in all, I think – great chances for the BJP! It is highly like that no charges would stick, and the Sadhvi and her associates would walk free to be embraced whole-heartedly by the BJP and RSS. Chances are, she would be the greatest asset to the BJP in the upcoming general elections if the ATS fails in its job.

In that case, whether she planned terrorism or not, this would be the biggest self-goal Congress has inflicted on itself in the last 5 years of its rule. A free Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur would be a hero, an icon for the right wing. All the right-wing accusations of persecution of the Hindu community by the UPA would be swallowed whole by the right-leaning population – and it can even lead to a simple majority for the BJP!

There are on the other hand, a large number of Hindus too who have suspected the presence of extremists among the far-right. If the charges against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur hold, they would be finally convinced about the dangers of the right-wing anger, and switch to UPA in the interests of peace. But frankly, that is not very likely to happen. Refer to earlier paragraphs about our invetigative skills to remember why.

Another interesting turn could happen – say, the Sadhvi is released, and the BJP keeps away after some initial victory-dancing. The sadhvi slowly vanishes from the public eye. What could explain such a scenario? That she probably had something shady in her activities, and no one wants to take the risk and damage themselves.

As of now, all this is guesswork. Let’s wait and watch.