During her college days, she was an active member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and later joined various affiliate organisations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
After her comment in parliament, where she called Nathuram Godse (Gandhi's assassin) a patriot, she was criticised by opposition party members.
[10] Cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon Dr. S. S. Rajput of the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow said that Thakur underwent a bilateral mastectomy to prevent recurrence of her cancer in 2008, stating he had operated on her three times.
[11][12][13] Thakur studied at Lahar College (Bhind), where, in 1993, she joined Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Sangh Parivar.
[14] Thakur joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on 17 April 2019 and was declared as the BJP candidate for Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency for 2019 elections.
[18] BJP leader Fatima Rasool Siddique said her communal and obnoxious remarks have tarnished the image of Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Muslims and she will not campaign for Thakur.
[21] The Election Commission later banned her for 72 hours from campaigning for violating the Model Code of Conduct by stirring up communal feelings.
[23][24] Nevertheless, Thakur won the election by a margin of 364,822 votes defeating opposing candidate Digvijaya Singh, a two-time Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.
[31] Swami Aseemanand in his on-camera confessions named Thakur as one of the key conspirators in the 2008 Malegaon, Ajmer Dargah, and Samjhauta Express terror blasts.
[32] Thakur had challenged the Bombay High court order of 12 March 2010 rejecting her plea for bail, contending that her arrest violated the mandate of Article 22(1) and 22(2) of the Constitution and also on the ground that no charge sheet was filed within 90 days as contemplated by Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
"[33] In 2012 she also filed an application for bail in the Bombay High Court on health grounds, claiming that she has been diagnosed with third-stage breast cancer.
[35] In April 2017, she was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on health grounds,[36] following the dropping of charges in under the MCOCA section by the Special National Investigation Agency.
[42][43] During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Thakur made public remarks addressing BJP party workers in Bhopal claiming that drinking cow urine helps infected people heal from the effects of the virus.