Though I haven’t been following the election frenzy closely, I still managed to catch a few articles on the Varun Gandhi issue and his inflammatory speeches. It is extremely horrifying and embarrasing for any Indian to hear such a provocative speech. Regardless of the controversy surrounding the exact words used in the speech, the speech is definitely communal.
It marks the sharp contrast between the two young Gandhi cousins – Varun and Rahul Gandhi. While I am no fond of Rahul Gandhi, I still feel that he continues to do considerable work at the ground level – his immersion in the Dalit homes, his condemnation of ‘divisive’ politics and his aim to reduce the caste and religious tensions in India. So while Rahul continues to atleast aim at protecting the true idea of India – a dream for a secular India without any discrimination, Varun Gandhi lies at the other extreme, trying to destroy the very essence of what India stands for. Fanning religious passions by such hatespeak should be intolerable in any civilised society and should be dealt with seriously. Varun should be banned from contesting elections at the very least. Lets just hope the law takes the right course of action.
However, the most shocking part for me was reading few of the comments I read. Many of them support Varun Gandhi and that is extremely unfortunate. It probably goes to show how the winds of fascism and racism have spread in India or hopefully it is just that such supportive comments are rare and the majority of us are still shocked at the whole episode.
Hoping that the future of India doesn’t lie with such fanatic young leaders but more broad-minded individuals as Rahul and others.
In Pursuit of Purpose 