“…main Geetha ke naam par us haath ko thod doonga…”
“…naam to dekho…Kareemullah…Fazlullah…”
Is this Youngistaan? I do not think so…and I’m sure you don’t either. But Varun Gandhi makes us believe so.
The incident in question throws an indelible stain on India’s reputation of a ‘secular’ country. The so called ‘Hate’ speech by Varun Gandhi is not just astounding but also greatly despicable.
As the contents of this horrible campaign trail were so conspicuously and blatantly put on display, I do not wish to discuss in deep detail the contents of it.
The preamble of the Constitution of India states categorically that India is a ‘Secular’ state. Secularism is a state policy in India. I know the Right to Religious Freedom exists but there exists no Fundamental Right or Duty that gives us the authority to openly deplore another religion. Unfortunately, this is precisely what has happened. Varun Gandhi, so indefatigably, so inexorably and with unrelenting impunity despised the Islamic religion in an effort to ‘garner votes’ from the people of a constituency that predominantly comprises Hindus.
Varun Gandhi, with his filthy remarks has threatened the rupture of India’s intricately woven secular fabric. He, with his sordid insult to the Muslim community has engendered animosity in the minds of the Indian Muslim towards him and his party. BJP playing the ‘Hindutva’ card again…déjà vu?
What befuddles me even more(and puts the person in question in worse light) is the fact that he is meant to be the descendent of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, a man of such towering stature and arguably, India’s greatest ever leader of all time. Are these the noble ideas he has inherited?
To add salt to the wound, this brazen claim from Varun Gandhi on a television news channel, of the tapes being…what’s that word…?’Doctored’…yes, of the tapes being ‘doctored’ by those prejudiced against him. Flip to the next channel and you see the wretched speech telecast and ironically, the person speaking has the same voice you previously heard! Should Varun Gandhi now claim that the person in the video of the speech is not him but his cousin Rahul Gandhi in his guise? Well…don’t be too flabbergasted if that does turn out to be Varun’s eventual deduction.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s resonance to this astounding incident is even more cryptic. One day, you have Ravi Shankar Prasad stating emphatically that the party dissociates itself from Varun’s statements (I do not wish to use his surname to allure to him…you know, he doesn’t deserve the pretentious surname) and the next day, you have a herd of spokespersons in dimly lit air-conditioned studios of television news channels, voicing their support for Varun Gandhi and hailing his deed. The headline in the next day’s papers should very well have been ‘Indian Politics at its shameful best!’…I would have done that had I headed some prominent newspaper in the country (which I will in future…watch out for the inauguration with my name and photograph on the front page of the first issue!)
The Congress, understandably, seized their opportunity at a time when they were running out of allies, slamming Varun’s and the BJP’s ideologies and bringing to the notice of the conscientious Indian public that this was the philosophy of the accursed party ever since its inception. Although I may not agree at all times of the Congress party’s ideals, their Spokespersons deeply interest me…especially Abhishek Manu Singhvi for articulacy and eloquence.
Take for example that grand release of the Congress’s manifesto, where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seamlessly swung into election mode, latched onto his opportunity and dismissed with disdain the speech of Varun and also reveled in taking a dig at the BJP for supporting Varun’s statements. Mr. Prime Minister also didn’t miss out on his curt response to L.K.Advani’s claim of the former being the ‘weakest P.M. India has ever had’, referring gleefully to the demolition of the Babri Masjid during Mr.Advani’s tenure as Home Minister.
We state with pregnant sanguinity the youth should foray into politics and lead the country. However, Varun Gandhi has given the country enough reason to believe that India would be better off in the hands of oldies who‘ve seen and experienced the rough rides of Indian politics for decades.
As a 14 year old cognizant Indian, I crave for leaders revolutionary, kindred to the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, unlike the Varun Gandhi’s, the L.K.Advani’s and the Manmohan Singh’s. I crave for leaders secular and just. I crave for leaders socially accountable to the people. I crave for Democracy as Abraham Lincoln had stated it…'the Govt of the people, by the people and for the people'.
Will I live to see that day?
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