"The party should not have to tell lies on behalf of Varun" BJP reluctant to fight Varun's case Neena Vyas
 Varun Gandhi NEW DELHI: Strong indications are now coming from top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders that they are against the party being saddled with fighting the criminal case against Varun Gandhi for his hate speech in Pilibhit in the run-up to the general election. "The party should not have to tell lies on behalf of Varun," one leader said. So far, the BJP's support to Mr. Gandhi was based on the premise that he had not made the hate speech. They believed him when he said that the audio-video compact discs played repeatedly on television channels were 'morphed.' Even at that time, the party "dissociated" itself from the hate speech while adding that Mr. Gandhi had said he had not spoken those anti-Muslim words and the authenticity of the compact discs had not been established. Since then two things have happened. One, a laboratory report has said the tapes were authentic, the voice was that of Mr. Gandhi and there were no signs of tampering. Two, the BJP has lost the election, faring badly in Uttar Pradesh, and some of its MPs and candidates have openly blamed Mr. Gandhi's speech for the "tactical consolidation" of the Muslim vote against the party. The criticism was made openly at the national executive committee. Slowly but surely, the BJP seems to be coming round to the view that Mr. Gandhi is less of an asset and more of a problem. The party organised his defence when he was arrested under the National Security Act by the Mayawati government. Eventually, those charges were revoked after intervention by the Supreme Court. Now some influential party leaders feel that the BJP should not sully its own reputation by defending him in the criminal case. In fact, lawyers organised for the defence of Mr. Gandhi in the NSA case have now been threatened, presumably by the Chota Shakeel gang, if the Delhi police are to be believed. While some of the lawyers reportedly threatened have had to organise their own security by personally paying for it, Mr. Gandhi and his mother Maneka Gandhi have made an issue of upgrading their security at public expense, some BJP leaders pointed out. With Regards Abi  "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." - Voltaire" |
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