Varun Gandhi plays to Hindutva gallery

Playing to the Hindutva gallery, newly-appointed BJP secretary Varun Gandhi on Monday demanded a ban on cow slaughter and vowed to give UP Chief Minister Mayawati, who had jailed him for his hate speeches against Muslims, the same treatment meted out to him.

“If somebody attacks my mother, would I not stand in front of her to protect her? Cow-slaughter is not only a social crime it is also a criminal act but not a single case has been filed,” Varun said at a rally here.

“Why are we silent on this issue?” he added, while urging the crowd to put their hands up in support of the cause.

Spewing venom against Mayawati, the Pilibhit MP said her government had money only for garlands and installing statues and not for the poor.

“Malawatiji….It is very difficult to understand whether it is Malawati or Mayawati,” Varun said ridiculing the BSP leader over the money garland issue.

“She gave me so much respect during the elections. When our time comes we will give her even more respect,” the 30-year-old BJP leader said.

Varun has had a running feud with the BSP supremo since she slapped the stringent National Security Act against him for making hate speeches during the last Lok Sabha elections and jailed him. However, it was later revoked.

Referring to the stampede in Kripalu Maharaj’s ashram in Pratapgarh in which 65 people were killed, he said, “there is money for Rs 5-Crore, Rs 10-Crore garlands but when it comes to giving compensation the government says it has no money. It has done ‘murtikaran’ (filled the city with Mayawati’s statues) of Lucknow.”

Raising the issue of Bareilly riots, Varun wondered if the violence was a “well-thought out game-plan” of the Mayawati regime.

He also criticised the Uttar Pradesh administration for arresting his mother and Aonla MP Maneka Gandhi when she tried to meet the riot-affected in the district.

“I am totally against communalism. But why were they (Muslims) given permission to take out a procession on Holi when it is well-known how people celebrate this festival with such fervour,” Varun said.

He asserted that during the Lok Sabha elections he had not given a communal slogan when he said “we can get beheaded but would not bow our heads”.

“To give the fight for self-respect a communal colour is not correct,” he said.

Varun also mentioned the need to respect Ganga river, an issue dear to the RSS and the Sangh Parivar.

He ended his speech with the slogan of “Jai Shri Ram”.

“I want to inspire one lakh Varuns in the country,” he said, adding, he was in politics to serve and had no love for any post or power.

The Pilibhit MP has been trying to revive the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and today’s rally was a part of the exercise. He has already held rallies in Sultanpur and Bulandshahr earlier.

Varun said though it was true that if he had not been born in the Gandhi family, he would not have reached the present position, “the real challenge is to bring young people from ordinary families into politics”.

He also raised other issues like the need to increase widow pension-which was a meagre Rs 200 per month, and the hike in fertiliser prices which was adversely affecting farmers.

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