Disapproving of BJP leader Pragya Singh Thakur's remarks against martyred ATS chief Hemant Karkare, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said it hurt the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is an "asset" for the NDA.
The Shiv Sena, in an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana', said Modi had been invoking the sacrifices made by soldiers to raise consciousness of people about nationalism and "terming sacrifices of martyrs as anti-national at such a time tarnishes his image".
Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon blast case, had recently claimed that Karkare died during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks as she had "cursed" him for "torturing" her.
She is contesting the Lok Sabha poll from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh on the BJP ticket.
The Sena stated that though it did not support Thakur's remarks against Karkare, the party had spoken in her favour during the probe in the Malegaon blast case.
"Our policy was that Hindus should not be defamed and stress should not be laid upon the word Hindu terrorism. We had then spoken about the probe being conducted under political pressure and only Saamana openly supported and fought for Sadhvi Pragya and Lt Col Prasad Purohit (another accused in the case)," it said.
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The Uddhav Thackeray-led party noted that Karkare laid down his life for the country after falling prey to bullets of Pakistani terrorists, and was later awarded the Ashok Chakra.
"Calling such a man anti-national is despicable and an insult to all martyrs of the nation," it said.
Referring to the use of unparliamentary language by political leaders in the Lok Sabha elections, the editorial stated, "People will decide who is to be raised up or uprooted. Nobody should be under the confusion that people are in their pocket.