Sadhvi Pragya Thakur before leaving for Ujjain on Wednesday. (Express Photo)

Less than a week after she was given a clean chit by the NIA in the Malegaon blast case, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur Wednesday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a ‘patriot’ and slammed her detractors for calling her a terrorist. On Wednesday, she finally reached Ujjain for a holy dip in the Kshipra during the ongoing Simhastha Kumbh, a demand for which she had started a fast-unto-death Tuesday. This marks her first visit to a place other than a jail, court or a hospital in nearly eight years since her arrest, .

Before leaving Bhopal and soon after reaching Ujjain, she hit out at MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for delaying her holy dip in the Kshipra. But she praised the PM saying he is “a patriot, he always thinks about the nation and I fully back anyone who does that’’. The MP government had initially expressed its inability to facilitate her Ujjain visit. Accompanied by a team of doctors she was brought to Ujjain around noon, amid heavy police presence.

As her supporters welcomed her in Ujjain, Thakur said: “I am not a terrorist. I am a patriot. Some of those who kept me in jail… have already been punished. It’s my duty to punish the rest… I work for religion. How can I be a terrorist?… If someone calls me a terrorist he is stupid; his blood must be impure. How can that person understand what is nationalism.’’

 Till the filing of this report, she had not taken the holy dip. Her brother-in-law Bhagwan Jha told The Indian Express that she would take the dip Thursday before returning to Bhopal. He also added that she was unwell.

Thakur had started her fast at 9 am Tuesday and had reportedly warned the MP government saying, “If I am not allowed to take a dip by May 21 (last day of the Kumbh), I will end my life that day.’’ Later, the matter was raised at a meeting of the MP Cabinet, with Home Minister Babulal Gaur seeking directions to deal with her request.

However, an order by a Dewas court giving a go-ahead to her request forced the state government’s hand. While seeking the court’s permission, she had argued that being a sadhvi, her only wish was to take a holy dip in Ujjain, to visit the Mahakal temple and to meet her guru, Swami Avdheshanandji. She broke her fast Wednesday after reaching Ujjain. She said she would move the human rights commission and added that the MP CM would have to face the consequences.