Anil Saumitra, the Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesperson, was suspended on Friday by the party for his remarks on Mahatma Gandhi on a day when some saffron party leaders allegedly made remarks praising Nathuram Godse.

Saumitra was suspended from the primary membership of the party for calling Gandhi the “father of the nation of Pakistan”.

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“Mahatma Gandhi was the father of the nation but of Pakistan. India has had crores of sons like him, some worthy, some unworthy,” Saumitra wrote in a Facebook post earlier in the day.

“Nobody known or unknown has the honour of being the father of India. So Mahatma Gandhi could be the father of the nation but of Pakistan. Everyone is proud to be the son of the Indian motherland,” he told reporters later.

A major row erupted on Friday after a series of BJP leaders praised Godse, a day after BJP candidate from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur called Gandhi’s assassin “a patriot”.

“Nathuram Godse was a patriot, is a patriot and will remain a patriot. People calling him a terrorist should instead look within. Such people will be given a befitting reply in these elections,” Thakur told reporters during a road show in Agar-Malwa.

She was replying to a query on Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief and actor Kamal Haasan’s remark that the “first terrorist in independent India was a Hindu”, referring to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse.

Though she later apologised for her “personal remarks”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that he will “never forgive her for insulting Bapu”.

Nalin Kateel, a BJP MP from Karnataka, on Thursday shockingly compared Nathuram Godse with former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde on Friday jumped into an ongoing controversy on Nathuram Godse saying after seven decades he would be happy with the debate.

“Am glad that 7 decades later today’s generation debates in a changed perceptional environment and gives good scope for the condemned to be heard upon. #NathuramGodse would have finally felt happy with this debate!” Hegde tweeted.

He, however, deleted the tweet soon after and claimed that his Twitter account has been breached twice in the past week.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday distanced itself from the controversial statements made by three of its leaders on Mahatma Gandhi assassin Nathuram Godse.

Statements of Anantkumar Hegde, Pragya Thakur and Nalin Kateel are their personal opinion. BJP has nothing to do with it, BJP president Amit Shah said in a statement issued after opposition outrage over the remarks.

The party has also directed its spokespersons to avoid any arguments on the issue.