He is the face of the new young India we talk about with such arrogant insouciance in business forums. He is amongst the few youth candidates being fielded by the BJP, obviously buttressed by that magical brand name, Gandhi. His family lineage is enviable. But it took just one speech, perhaps some more, to make Varun Gandhi , son of Maneka and late Sanjay Gandhi , one of the controversial yet defining personalities of elections 2009, his vituperative utterances against fellow Muslims echoing the kind of hatred we read about in those partition stories of 1947. 62 years have passed since the tri-colour first flew atop the Red Fort and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru made that famous midnight speech. But Varun , his great grand-son has just made his own tryst with destiny with his Pilibhit election speeches. It looks like a long hard dusty road for the fiery lad.
Any keen political observer of India's treacherous terrain of Delhi would tell you that the BJP welcomed Varun Gandhi with undisguised glee; it was for them sure-shot vindication of their so-called emerging "moderation" in 21st century India, even as they believed that they had found a tactical weapon to keep 10, Janpath on the defensive, taking calculated advantage of a bitter family squabble. In politics, such a pedestrian ploy is considered " a strategic break-through , carefully orchestrated". LK Advani and illustrious company walked with a peacock's strut at their new acquisition, using Varun as their youth mascot.
Yet in deriding and condemning Varun Gandhi we all miss the central , germane issue; what really is the BJP's plan for governing a billion plus , fast-track, rapidly evolving, world favorite India ? Nothing. It is a resounding vacuum, an empty shell, the saffron party has absolutely no agenda whatsoever, except one-----religious extremism, Hindutva. Riding atop a decorated chariot in 1989, LK Advani may have fooled vulnerable sections of a struggling, confused India into the Ram Mandir dream, when the temple erection at Ayodhya had become a palliative ointment for a disillusioned middle class, and the Hindu psyche. Post-Independence, it saw the re-emergence of militant Hinduism for the first time, evident in the mob fury that was to disintegrate the Babri Masjid. But this is 2009, and two decades have passed.
The BJP and LK Advani have just one raison d'etre for launching a massive campaign to re-occupy Race Course road---Ram Mandir. It is indeed a monumental shame for the BJP , and reveals its intellectual bankruptcy and electoral impotence. Which is why Varun Gandhi went into a vitriolic spin, spewing venom and vehemence unparalleled against the minority community. Because there is nothing else that Varun Gandhi knows about the BJP's game-plan that he can talk about ; employment, nuclear deal, rural development, stimulus packages, corruption, foreign policy, HRD , IT revolution, nothing. So Varun did what came to him most logically; he launched into the single-point BJP election manifesto with the rabid passion of a fanatical zealot. He succeeded, and how! Even the Shiv Sena now wants him as their knight rider on a big-wide poster.
They say that one day the chicken comes home to roost. The Varun factor has boomeranged into an embarrassing egg-splash on the BJPs face, and no amount of media gobbledygook their spin doctors do can now save the obsolete, obscurantist -thinking party from shrugging off it's obnoxious reputation of being nothing but a communal party , shorn of any global vision of India and bereft of any socio-economic-political ideology, which is in any case a hard reality.
Every time I log onto the world wide web these days, Mr Advani pops up in front, in a major BJP cyberspace campaign to hook the youth , the internet browsers, casual surfers and the hard addicts. Unfortunately for Mr Advani , the young Turks who apparently call themselves the Friends of BJP , have failed to comprehend that mere advertising visibility does not win at the ballot-box. India Shining, should have taught them that. The young crowd have seen with shock and awe, and horror and fear what happened in a Mangalore pub and on Valentine's Day in India's yuppie Silicon Valley under the BJP dispensation. But we rarely learn, I guess, from past blunders.
Friends of BJP should understand the basic management principle; the buck stops at the top. It is not Varun Gandhi of the Blackberry generation who owes the Muslims and the people of India an apology, but Mr Advani himself. But he will not. Because he will hate to admit that the BJP has been check-mated by a Gandhi.
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this blog is A s@#$%ING NON - SENSE
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Wow Mr Jha!
A national party like BJP has no agenda, where were you when BJP was at helm of affairs from 98-2004...stashing cash from your plum job in multinational firms!!!...how do you think congress has handled 04-09? I would love to have a debate with pseudo seculars like you...
And by the way please order a copy of the poll manifesto of BJP, you will be able to figure out their agenda,,,if you care though....
The problem of this nation is that we have intelligent minds like you assuming good things and having a fixation about Congress and Nehru/Gandhi surname. I do not have a problem with Varun Gandhi turning Modi if he can do to India what Modi has done to Gujarat.
Believe me , my job as Business Transformation consultant takes me all over India and no where else i have seen the growth fundamentals so obvious than in Gujarat...
to hell with secularism , i would want my leader to be Modi any day ...Reply
Dear Sanjay,
I agree with you when you lament on the misfortune, a leader(?) as Varun that we as voters of the largest democracy are to bear. This is a classical case where an educated urban elite has decided to make use of the colonial sentiments of divide and rule and cheap political stunts to gain political mileage that he had been deprived of to steal the limelight. Here is the case of a youth who deserves to say; I was born wise, but education ruined me!! I wonder what inspired him not to choose a role model in a Manmohan Singh or KR Narayan or a Amartya Sen from LSE but pick up a third-rate goon as Muttalik or Togadia or Modi. ...Reply
this is a column written by a blind congress supporter,who has forgotten shahbano,forgotten the innocent godhra victims,forgotten hundreds of sikhs and the famous billion rupee shamefull handshake of soniaji with amar singh to save the minority govt. Varun definetly did commit a mistake but why blame advani for that.Modi is one of the best administrator in the world, please go and ask the non-political section of the minorities in gujrat.congress,left and leaders like lau,mulayam has used minorities as vote banks only,never wanted to empower them so that the poor people can always be used by them.I am from Karnataka, mangalore pub case is an isolated case blown out of proportion by friends of congress,the local BJP govt. has taken all actions to punish the guilty.
u are right saying people cant be fooled, this applies to people like u also who blindly support the congress. ...Reply
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I left Calcutta as a college student with a scholarship from a Canadian University to pursue M.Sc. in Civil Engineering. After 32 years of living in Canada and the U.S. and eventually changing careers to become a lawyer, I returned to India, hoping to make a difference. I opened my own law firm in Delhi and have been, for the last 12 years, actively involved in pro bono litigation to assist those who cannot advocate for themselves. For example, I negotiated one of the largest settlements (65 lakhs) in the Indian legal history for the families of the victims in the BMW case in New Delhi.
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Elections should be fought by individuals who are judged by the merits of their own actions and not their political affiliations. Once elected, the politicians must work with the Prime Minister to support policies and programs that benefit the nation as a whole. The PM will be chosen by the MPs on the basis of merit and his ability to lead the country, irrespective of his party affiliation.
An India where politicians vote their conscience is a great idea, but it is a difficult road to travel. I believe we should inundate the political system with Independent candidates like me who are honest and willing to embrace change. With your assistance, we can make a difference and make sure that corruption has no place to incubate and sycophancy and nepotism are extinguished.
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Dr. AMITABHA SEN
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