Mother of controversies: Mayawati, Maneka trade charges
By IANSSaturday, April 4, 2009
LUCKNOW - Call it the mother of all controversies ahead of the poll. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Maneka Gandhi, whose son Varun has been detained for his purported hate-Muslim speeches, traded charges Saturday with both making references to Mother Teresa to buttress their arguments.
Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Bahujan Samaj party (BSP) chief Mayawati criticised Maneka Gandhi for her remarks that only a mother could understand her feelings.
Terming these remarks ‘insinuating’, Mayawati, who is single, said: ‘Let me tell Maneka Gandhi that even Mother Teresa did not have children but understood the feelings of millions of children.
‘Rather than teaching her son some manners and telling him how to behave, she is going about defending him, which is condemnable.’
Mayawati demanded that Maneka Gandhi should seek pardon from her and the entire country for the remarks.
Varun Gandhi, named by the BJP as candidate in the Lok Sabha polls from the Pilibhit constituency represented five times by his mother, is in judicial custody at Etah, charged under the National Security Act for hate-Muslim speeches that he purportedly made.
Maneka Gandhi, a former central minister, launched a scathing attack on Mayawati after the chief minister’s press conference.
‘Mother Teresa didn’t use law to buy herself diamond and jewellery and house. Mother Teresa tendered love, not death to everyone. Mother Teresa never sent anyone to jail without any reason.
‘Mother Teresa never got anyone killed on her birthday,’ Maneka Gandhi said. She was alluding to the Dec 24 murder of engineer Manoj Kumar Gupta allegedly by BSP legislator Shekhar Tiwari after the victim did not give in to his extortion demands.
‘Mother Teresa never fired (gunshots) upon anyone. Mother Teresa never took bribes. So she should not speak on manners,’ Maneka Gandhi said.
Citing rules of the jail administration, authorities had Friday asked Maneka Gandhi to not meet her son in Etah jail. Maneka Gandhi had then said if Mayawati had been a mother, she would have understand a mother’s pain.
‘I want to say that Maneka is mother of one (Varun), while I take care of hundreds and understand the pain of crores of mothers,’ Mayawati said.
Defending her decision to slap the stringent National Security Act (NSA) on Varun Gandhi, Mayawati said the action was ‘fully justified’.
‘I am fully justified in taking the most stern action against him because what he did was not pardonable, and anyone indulging in such acts, no matter how high and mighty, would receive the same treatment in my regime and will not be spared under any circumstances,’ the chief minister said.
Although, the Congress party has distanced itself from the controversy, its senior cabinet minister Arjun Singh said ‘it was unfortunate’ that Varun Gandhi had been booked under NSA.
Fellow cabinet minister and Congress leader Kapil Sibal said: ‘When both of them are talking to each other, it is not appropriate for a third party to intervene.’
BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley demanded that the Uttar Pradesh government revoke the ‘vindictive’ charges under the NSA slapped on Varun Gandhi.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s state headquarters here, Jaitley said: ‘The steps taken by Mayawati against Varun Gandhi are disproportionate and vindictive.
‘If she doesn’t back track, she will have to pay a heavy political price,’ he warned.
Jaitley accused the Uttar Pradesh government of wanting to keep Varun Gandhi away from campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls.
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April 6, 2009: 11:31 am
Varun In Jail: His Communal Strategy For Political Gains Misfires April 2, 2009 by TMO By Nilofar Suhrawardy, MMNS India Correspondent Policemen clear the way for the police van in which Varun Gandhi, great-grandson of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and scion of a family dynasty, is sitting after he was arrested in Pilibhit, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, March 28, 2009. Police in northern India on Saturday arrested Gandhi over allegations he made inflammatory comments against Muslims. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi NEW DELHI: Political drama and media-hype raised over highly communal and inflammatory remarks allegedly made by Varun Gandhi while campaigning in Pilibhit as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for Lok Sabha polls carry a far more significant message than apparent. Undeniably, a primary motive behind the entire drama staged by Varun and his political patrons is to push him and the party into political limelight. Besides, Varun allegedly made provocative comments targeting the minority communities (including Muslims and Sikhs) to create a polarization of votes along religious lines in Pilibhit to attract the majority Hindu community to BJP’s side. Clearly, Varun tried his hand at the old-tainted communal card, which had incited public to the stage of riots over Ayodhya-issue, pushing BJP to the center stage as a national party from late 1980s onwards. The political novice apparently remained oblivious of the hard reality that the Indian voter has matured a lot over the past two decades. It cannot be ignored that 2002 Gujarat-carnage played a major role in pushing the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government out of power in 2004 elections. The anti-incumbency factor played a key role in helping Congress return to power, leading the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Varun has also given little importance to the hard reality that BJP does not have as strong base in UP as it did earlier, which is responsible for Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati winning the state assembly elections in 2007 with a sweeping majority. The situation would have been different were the national and/or UP government led by BJP. There is no denying that with her eye on capturing the prime ministerial position, UP Chief Minister Mayawati has no intention to agitate the minority community in UP and elsewhere. Hype raised by Varun’s political colleagues over his arrest and charges framed against him have ironically not played the part they probably aimed for. Nothing else can be a stronger indicator of this than the fact that neither Varun’s comments nor the subsequent developments aroused any communal frenzy to the stage of riots in Pilibhit. Yes, law and order in Pilibhit was put to risk when Varun allegedly made the inflammatory comments and when he courted arrest. The clash, the day he courted arrest (March 28) was between the saffron brigade activists and the police. This certainly defeats the logic exercised by Varun and his supporters to try inciting communal frenzy in Pilibhit. If Varun assumed that by courting arrest for a few hours or days, he would return to the political field as a hero for his radical supporters, he has been proved wrong. This is marked by UP government slapping the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against Varun, which can keep him behind bars till elections are over. Thus, dismissal of the case filed against him on violating model code of conduct and grant of bails on other charges slapped on him spelt only a minor relief for him (March 30). He was granted bail on sureties of Rs 20,000 each in two cases – one related to allegedly causing breach of peace through inflammatory speeches and the other on charge of violating prohibitory order. The NSA was invoked against him the preceding day (March 29) for making inflammatory speeches at public meetings at Dalganj and Barkhera in Pilibhit on March 7 and 8 and for giving an aggressive speech at the court gate on March 28, because of which his supporters turned violent and clashed with the police. The decision to charge him under NSA was taken at a high level meeting, presided by Mayawati. Clearly, this move signals that BJP’s rivals in UP seem prepared to counter attempts made by Varun and his supporters to incite communal frenzy for gaining political mileage by polarization of votes along religious lines. A three-member advisory committee, comprising of one acting High Court judge and two retired judges, has been set up by Allahabad High Court to examine whether the NSA imposed on Varun is correct or not. The committee is expected to submit its report in three weeks. Till then, Varun cannot appeal against the NSA, which means that the political novice may have to contest polls from behind the bars. In the opinion of left bloc and the Congress, NSA against Varun is justified. “A very strong, tough message needed to be sent that no hate speech will be tolerated against any community and it has been sent,” Brinda Karat (Communist Party of India-Marxist) said. “Those who break law to get votes, do divisive politics with open eyes…. They should have courage to face the law if they break it,” Congress party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said. On whether invoking NSA in Varun’s case was correct, he replied: “If the state government is of the opinion that there is a threat to public order, it (NSA) can be used…. Can there be more threat to public order?” Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Bahujan Samaj party (BSP) chief Mayawati criticised Maneka Gandhi for her remarks that only a mother could understand her feelings. Terming these remarks ‘insinuating’, Mayawati, who is single, said: ‘Let me tell Maneka Gandhi that even Mother Teresa did not have children but understood the feelings of millions of children. ‘Rather than teaching her son some manners and telling him how to behave, she is going about defending him, which is condemnable.’ Mayawati demanded that Maneka Gandhi should seek pardon from her and the entire country for the remarks. Citing rules of the jail administration, authorities had Friday asked Maneka Gandhi to not meet her son in Etah jail. Maneka Gandhi had then said if Mayawati had been a mother, she would have understand a mother’s pain. ‘I want to say that Maneka is mother of one (Varun), while I take care of hundreds and understand the pain of crores of mothers,’ Mayawati said. Defending her decision to slap the stringent National Security Act (NSA) on Varun Gandhi, Mayawati said the action was ‘fully justified’. ‘I am fully justified in taking the most stern action against him because what he did was not pardonable, and anyone indulging in such acts, no matter how high and mighty, would receive the same treatment in my regime and will not be spared under any circumstances,’ the chief minister said. |
Jagatheesan Chandrasekharan