?Cong raising dagger as it lacks issues?

BHARATIYA JANATA Party MLA Usha Thakur, who courted controversy by carrying a dagger inside the Madhya Pradesh Assembly last week, today said she failed to understand why the Congress was raking up the issue now, considering that she has been carrying it inside the House ever since she was elected two years ago.

BHARATIYA JANATA Party MLA Usha Thakur, who courted controversy by carrying a dagger inside the Madhya Pradesh Assembly last week, today said she failed to understand why the Congress was raking up the issue now, considering that she has been carrying it inside the House ever since she was elected two years ago.

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“It seems they don’t have any issue to raise inside the House so they have raised the issue of a woman MLA carrying a dagger,” Thakur told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

She said that the dagger had been gifted to her in 1986 by Kuldeep Singh, the brother of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, when she was researching the role of revolutionaries in the national movement.

“Since then, I am carrying the dagger hanging diagonally on my shoulder. By raising the issue, the Leader of Opposition has shown disrespect towards the religious feelings of the Sikh community,” the MLA said.

Thakur said that in the case of Sardar Trilochan Singh, who was also carried a Kirpan in the Lok Sabha in 1985, the then Speaker, Balram Jakhar, had granted permission to the Sikh leader for carrying it inside the House.