NEW DELHI: Varun Gandhi, a great-grandson of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, said yesterday he had been a victim of political conspiracy. Varun stirred political controversy after video footage showed him comparing a rival Muslim politician to Osama Bin Laden and threatening to cut the throats of Muslims during a political rally.
“These are not my words and that is not my voice. I have not made any communal statement,” he said. Varun, the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for Lok Sabha, also denied entertaining any “ill-feelings” against any community. “It is a malicious attempt to brand me as communal. There is no question of my having any ill feeling toward any community,” he said.
Claiming that Hindus in Pilibhit, where he made the statement on March 5, were living in “fear,” Varun said: “My attempt was to restore confidence in a community that has been under siege in its own country.” He also blamed authorities for paying little attention to “thousands and thousands of people from the Hindu community” being “under arrest under the National Security Act.” While the BJP dissociated itself from his remarks, the Congress demanded action against Varun.
“The BJP disapproves and dissociates itself from the statements attributed to Varun Gandhi,” party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told a press conference. On the action the party was likely to take, Prasad said: “We shall see.” The party will decide after Varun gives a reply to the Election Commission (EC) and the party receives a notification on the matter from the EC, he said.
Criminal charges were filed against Varun for making the inflammatory remarks.
The Congress has called for Varun’s arrest. Describing Varun’s anti-Muslim speeches as contrary to secular democracy, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said: “When cognizance has been taken by the Election Commission that a prima facie offense has been committed, it is of no relevance whether Varun denies it or not. There is no place for people like Varun in politics.”
“If the BJP has any modicum of respect for democratic principles, it should immediately withdraw Varun as its candidate,” Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury said. If the BJP does not do this, “It will be established that the party backs the unfiltered communal venom Varun Gandhi has poured out,” Yechury said.
Police in Uttar Pradesh state have launched an investigation.
Local media played clips in which he is also alleged to have said he would cut off the hands of Muslims who threatened Hindus.
“They have taken my speech, they have twisted it so badly that it makes me look like I'm attacking Muslims,” Varun said. Unlike most politicians from India’s powerful Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, Varun joined the opposition BJP and not the center-left Congress party that has largely governed India since independence.
“The party has an ideology of protecting Hindus. I have tried to protect the weaker sections of Hindus from being targeted...,” he told CNN-IBN news channel. “It’s a very sad day in Indian politics when anyone who speaks for Hindus is branded communal.
As his party gears up for an election in April and May, the allegations could damage the BJP, which has in the past been accused of stoking tensions to pander to its large Hindu vote base.
