Varun Gandhi again in a soup

| Last updated less than one minute ago

Submit :

News Photos Just In Debate Topic Latest News Articles Local News Blog Posts Pictures Reviews Recipes

Md Mudassir Alam

27 August, 2009

Varun Gandhi who came into unfavourable light with his tirade against the Muslims during campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections earlier, had given a similar speech against Sikhs. His rival VM Singh recently filed charges against the same.

AFTER FACING severe criticism for hate speeches against Muslims, BJP MP Varun Gandhi is once again in a soup. In fresh allegations, it is said that Varun Gandhi had also spoken against the Sikh community during the Lok Sabha election campaigning in Pilibhit. The allegations have been made by the Congress candidate VM Singh who lost to Gandhi from the Pilibhit Lok Sabha constituency.

In a complaint to the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday (August 25), Singh said Varun had referred to Sikhs as “Khalistanis” besides calling Muslims “Pakistanis.” The 35-page complaint of VM Singh has been submitted to the state’s principal home secretary Fateh Bahadur. The latter admitted that he had received such a complaint and said, “We will look into the complaint and get everything examined before initiating any action.”

Singh’s complain cites a speech of Varun Gandhi delivered at Mathia temple in Deshnagar locality of Pilibhit on March 6, 2009. In his complaint Singh says, “The applicant seeks permission from the state to initiate criminal proceedings against Varun Feroze Gandhi for indulging and misusing religion to garner votes and also spitting venom and creating a divide between communities to reap electoral benefits.”

The complaint further reads, “The transcript of the speech delivered by Varun on March 6, 2009, in Pilibhit reveals that apart from trying to create a divide between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims to secure votes in the election, he made personal attacks not only against me but also against the Sikh religion.”

While Varun’s hate speeches delivered on March 7 and 8, against Muslims in Pilibhit are under police investigation, his alleged anti-Sikh utterances in Deshnagar went unreported. A former MLA and a farmer leader, VM Singh found the transcripts of Deshnagar speech recently and took the matter to the state government. But one important question rises here. Why Varun spoke against Sikhs? If these allegations are true, then it would be really discouraging for another minority community.