{"id":270,"date":"2009-03-16T15:54:04","date_gmt":"2009-03-16T15:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/2009\/03\/varun-gandhi-vows-to-cut-heads.html"},"modified":"2009-03-16T15:54:04","modified_gmt":"2009-03-16T15:54:04","slug":"varun-gandhi-vows-to-cut-heads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/03\/varun-gandhi-vows-to-cut-heads.html","title":{"rendered":"Varun Gandhi vows to “cut heads” of muslims in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is disgusting and vile – Varun Gandhi, son of the late Sanjay Gandhi and grandson of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, went on a wild rant against muslims<\/a> while campaigning in a rural area:<\/p>\n

Raising his hands, he repeatedly said that this not the Congress’ symbol of hand but is the BJP’s arm that will behead these K&t*%*<\/strong>
\n(extremely derogatory word which is a highly offensive slang to
\ndescribe the community). It was both sad and shocking, coming from a
\n28-year-old politician.<\/p>\n

[Yeh itne ghinaune shabd hain ki ham
\naapko sunaa bhi nahiN sakte: The anchor had to say that some words and
\nremarks were so disgusting that they couldn’t be aired. Though the
\nchannel inserted a sound at that partiular word, still it could be
\nunderstood]<\/p>\n

Amid chants of Jai Shri Ram, the young face of BJP
\nand the scion of Nehru-Gandhi delivered not just a speech of extreme
\nvitriol but threatened to kill and cut heads and hands. He didn’t even
\nspare the Congress either.
…
Varun has delivered a number of speeches in various meetings. In one
\nmeeting he says that the Muslims have names that appear scary. They
\nalso look dangerous. If one comes across them at night, he may get
\nfrightened. <\/p>\n

Then Varun takes the pledge of Gita and says that he would cut all such hands and taken on them solely. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Coverage of the incident from Thaindian News<\/a> mentions that the local BJP party members – no strangers to anti-muslim incitement – were taken aback and are scrambling to distance themselves\/deny the event outright:<\/p>\n

What has come as a shocker is his staunchly pro-Hindu and rabid
\nanti-Muslim vitriolic that his opponents and supporters say could
\ntrigger a communal clash.<\/p>\n

From taking up issues like the ban on cow slaughter to asking a Sikh
\nleader to leave a Hindu meeting, Varun Gandhi has been ruffling
\nfeathers everywhere.<\/p>\n

Though just one offensive remark captured by a TV channel drew the
\nattention of the local authorities, the scion of the estranged Gandhi
\nfamily has been busy making such statements all over Pilibhit.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

On March 6, he said at the Dalchand meeting: … “If somebody lifts a hand against Hindus, or thinks they are
\nweak, there is nobody behind them, then I swear on the (Bhagvad) Gita
\nthat I will cut off that hand.”<\/p>\n

It has left even leaders who are working for his victory flabbergasted.<\/p>\n

Naresh Verma, a popular BJP leader in Puranpur – within the
\nconstituency – told IANS: “I am a BJP activist and a Hindu too. But I
\nam not in favour of launching a communally charged campaign. If Varun
\nGandhi persists with such style of campaigning, I would be compelled to
\nkeep myself away from it.”<\/p>\n

Added another BJP veteran Gurdial Singh: “Varun is going out of
\nhand. If he is not restrained, this election could end in a bloody
\ncommunal clash.”<\/p>\n

The 70-year-old Sikh froom Ramnagar village was even asked to leave one of the Hindu meets being addressed by Varun Gandhi. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The worst thing that the muslim community in the region could do would be to react and take the bait for these provocations. The other parties are making complaints to the Indian Election Commission; however the best way to reign in Varun would be for his own party to condemn him unequivically. Thus far, that doesn’t seem likely to happen. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Varun denies it, blaming a “political conspiracy”<\/a>. Maybe he is assuming that his target audience doesn’t watch television?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is disgusting and vile – Varun Gandhi, son of the late Sanjay Gandhi and grandson of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, went on a wild rant against muslims while campaigning in a rural area: Raising his hands, he repeatedly said that this not the Congress’ symbol of hand but is the BJP’s arm that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[246,138,100,26,247],"class_list":["post-270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-neverending-story","tag-bjp","tag-india","tag-islamophobia","tag-politics","tag-varun-gandhi"],"yoast_head":"\nVarun Gandhi vows to "cut heads" of muslims in India - City of Brass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Varun Gandhi vows to "cut heads" of muslims in India - 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The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}