BEWARE: Narendra Modi, Raj Thackery and all those Indian leaders who survive on the politics of hate. You have a new contender: Varun Gandhi. Before his venomous speech in which he threatened to slit the throats of Muslims and cut their hands, Varun's only credential to fame had been his surname, Gandhi. But today this great-grandson of India's first prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru has his own identity: an identity which is alien to Nehru's secular legacy and India's values and traditions. Varun had never been a head-turner in political parlance. He has just been a member of the Hindu-chauvinist BJP's national executive. This is the first time he is contesting elections. Besides the Gandhi tag, he did not have anything extra to attract the electorate. He knew that even this tag won't have any weightage, because the official heir to the Gandhi legacy was his cousin Rahul, who is his rival party's future prime ministerial candidate. So Varun had to come up with something different. To get spotted in a crowd of Dalmatians you have to shed your spots. Varun, however, did the other thing; he shed his plain background. Today even the most venomous of Hindu-chauvinist leaders look pale in front of him. He has achieved what he wanted: a huge following. The way hundreds and thousands of people came out on the streets in Pilibhit Saturday pelting the police with stones and trying to block them from arresting Varun, who had moved a surrender plea, proves that he is now playing his cards very well. The crowd, the slogan-shouting and the whole drama reminds one of BJP prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani's arrest during his divisive Rath Yatra in 1990. Although Advani was arrested and the Yatra stopped, but by then he had done the planned damage. The country had been totally polarized on communal lines, the atmosphere was surcharged with negative current and hatred. It culminated in the demolition of Babri Mosque in 1992. But it also catapulted BJP to power. A party which had a mere two parliamentary seats in 1989 went on to form three coalition governments in 1996, 1998 and 1999. And today Advani is its prime ministerial candidate. Varun has learnt his political lesson well. Being a docile politician like his mother won't take him too far, he knows. He must have also studied the political graph and fan base of hate-mongers like Narendra Modi, Raj Thackery and others like them. He does not want to be yet another young leader fighting for his political space. He wants to create his own space. Varun seems to be a man in a tearing hurry. He wants to ride to power on the crest of the wave of divisive politics. His speech in Dalchand on March 6 was a well-thought out and well-calculated move toward this goal. It was not a spur-of-the-moment spiel; and it was definitely not “doctored.” He knew the repercussions of each and every word in that hate-filled infamous address delivered under the blessings of a number of Hindu sadhus, who were seated on the dais and were doled out wads of money in defiance of the Election Commission regulations. He had prepared himself to face the repercussions. Otherwise why would he drop his bail plea and drive to the court through the streets of Pilibhit accompanied by thousands of supporters? He has snatched away the prime time news space from all political stalwarts. Today he is in the world media glare. And he is exploiting the situation to the brim to his advantage. “The only objective of my coming here (to the court) is to strengthen my people, my society and the whole country.....I will not step back, if by my going to jail others are encouraged to stand by their principles, to fight by their principles,” he thundered amid the deafening roar of his supporters. This roar has drowned out all saner voices. Varun's defiant stance is not without the backing of his political masters. BJP has stood by him. It refused to listen to the Election Commission's plea to deny him the ticket to flight elections. And now he must have been advised by his party bosses to go to jail to get the sympathy of his supporters. A majority of Hindus don't subscribe to Varun's views. He has been openly and publicly condemned by many Hindus. Varun is least bothered by these voices of dissent, because he knows they are not the people who will go out and vote. He is more than happy to win the wrath of these people so as to win the backing of those who will vote him to power and who will face the police baton in his support. Varun is in a win win situation. What has lost is India's secular values and traditions of tolerance. – SG Comments: [email protected] __
