Modi BJP : Gandhi killer a "Patriot"

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made headlines again.

This time it is for calling Nathuram Godse

- the man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi - a "patriot".

Politician Pragya Thakur above comment was made in response to a statement by southern actor-turned politician

Kamal Haasan who had said India's first "extremist" was a Hindu"

referring to Nathuram Godse .....

BJP Bhopal Lok Sabha Candidate
Pragya Thakur says :
'Nathuram Godse was a 'deshbhakt'
is a 'deshbhakt'
and will remain a 'deshbhakt'.

However, Ms Thakur's comments do reflect the views of some right-wing Hindus
who support the BJP and have long seen Gandhi as too moderate.

Godse, who shot Gandhi in the chest three times at point-blank range on 30 January 1948
was also an activist with nationalist right-wing groups
including those closely associated with the BJP.

Hindu hardliners in India accuse Gandhi of having betrayed Hindus by being too pro-Muslim

and even for the division of India and the bloodshed that marked Partition

which saw India and Pakistan created after independence from Britain in 1947

On Wednesday, Priyanka Gandhi is taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his home turf
- by holding a road show in his constituency Varanasi.
Ever since she formally joined politics in February, she has been on a whirlwind tour,
campaigning mostly in Uttar Pradesh where Varanasi is located.

But will her efforts make any difference to the fortunes of the Congress party in the general elections ?

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When Priyanka Gandhi, the charismatic sister of Congress party president Rahul Gandhi

walked up onto the stage at a rally in the town of Pratapgarh last week

she was greeted by shouts of "Priyanka Gandhi zindabad!

[Long Live Priyanka Gandhi! ] "

With an increase in hate crimes against Muslims in India in recent years
some fear the world's largest democracy is becoming dangerously intolerant
under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

It happened just days before the first phase of voting in the Indian elections.

A Muslim trader in the north-eastern state of Assam was leaving work when he was accosted by a mob.

Shaukat Ali was surrounded by the group, forced to kneel in sludge as he was attacked.

"Are you Bangladeshi?" one man shouted, questioning his Indian citizenship.

"Why did you sell beef here?" asked another as he jabbed his finger at Mr Ali.

Instead of stepping in to help, the crowds that gathered filmed the incident on their mobile phones.

A month later and Mr Ali is still struggling to walk.

The video of Mr Ali being forced to eat pork went viral, sparking outrage ....

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