Bhopal - For nearly a decade, Pragya Thakur was known mostly as the saffron-clad Hindu ascetic shuttling in and out of Indian courts, flanked by police, facing charges under an anti-terrorism law for plotting a bomb attack on Muslims.
The five years of Modi's rule have seen an increasing number of attacks on Muslims by right-wing groups. But the brazenness of Thakur's candidacy has still stunned many. Thakur says she had nothing to do with the 2008 explosion near several mosques in the Muslim-majority town of Malegaon in western India. Six Muslims were killed and more than a hundred people injured. According to court filings, the motorcycle on which the explosives were strapped was Thakur's, and she was among those who planned the attack to avenge "jihadi activities."
Born in a village in central India, she grew up to become a leader of a youth group linked to the BJP, and usually clad in a shirt and jeans, hair cropped short, came to be referred to as "didi", or elder sister, her sister Upma said. "I was there, I had broken the structure, and I will go back to build the temple," Thakur said in a campaign speech, echoing BJP's promise to build a temple at the mosque site.Thakur, whose family says she is a cancer survivor, has often wept while describing the torture she claims she endured in custody.
About 500 km west of Bhopal, in Malegaon, there was anger among families of blast victims about Thakur's candidacy.
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