The Other Gandhi’s Hate Politics

Akash Bisht Delhi, Hardnews

Varun Gandhi is sinking in troubled waters after his hate speech against the Muslim community during an election rally on March 6 in Pilibhit, UP. With BJP apparently disassociate itself from his comments, the son of late Sanjay Gandhi has found few supporters except the original hate-mongers, the Shiv Sena. Congress leader Dijvijay Singh led a delegation to Election Commission and lodged a formal complaint against him. Majority of political parties have condemned his abjectly venomous and abusive remarks against an entire community and an FIR has been lodged against him. Two more cases have been registered against him.

The EC has ordered the registration of a criminal case against him and issued him a ‘must reply' order to the show-cause notice. The EC has also sought forensic analysis of the tapes of his speech and a video tracking of all rallies and functions attended by him.

Varun has, however, issued a clarification saying his speech has been tampered with and the voice is not his. But there are few takers of his views. Hardnews finds out, a BJP leader said that some parts of the speech may be true but the part where he mentions words like ‘Gita ki saugandh' and other utterances doesn't seem to be his. But with the BJP disassociating itself from the ‘other Gandhi', there are hushed whispers that Varun might get patronage from a completely unexpected source -- Sonia Gandhi. Apparently, her affection for Varun might let him see light at the end of tunnel.

Whether Varun is let off or not is still a matter of contention, but what remains to be seen is how much of political mileage will Varun and BJP get if he is put behind bars. The BJP is playing its ‘anti-minority' card close to its chest.