During the last few days we have been treated to the spectacle of Mr. Varun Gandhi\u2019s speech in his constituency and his clarifications thereon, ad nauseam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a cynical and passive observer of the Indian political scene, I feel amazed at the flagrant doublespeak of Varun and BJP. If the errant scion of Gandhi family did not deliver the \u2018alleged\u2019 speech, why couldn\u2019t he set the records straight in unequivocal terms stating that those are not his convictions? Instead, he chose to clarify parts of that rabble rousing speech which were particularly offensive whilst retaining the core essence of Hindutva ( I am a proud Hindu etc). His clarifications were a juvenile and amateurish attempt at refuting the legal charges for Election Commission\u2019s consumption, placating the media and people at the national level to appear moderate whilst retaining the Hindutva essence of his speech for the grass root workers in his constituency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Varun Gandhi is just following the classic ruse adopted by BJP as a political entity. At the national level, the party projects a moderate face whilst at the grassroots level; it still promotes divisive communal politics for garnering votes. Isn\u2019t it interesting to see that the only BJP leaders of national stature who have condemned the speech happen to be of Muslim origin! And I daresay they did it not<\/strong> because they are decent people but because they are worried about their vote bank. Others including Advani have conveniently kept quiet or sidestepped the issue. Isn\u2019t it time our political leadership dealt with real issues like economy, growth, terrorism, infrastructure etc rather than play footsie with vote banks?<\/p>\n\n\n\n