The BJP said it was proud to be associated with Hindutva and opposed "theocracy or any form of bigotry" which is alien to Indian ethos.
In the wake of Varun Gandhi’s hate speech CD being declared “not doctored”, his mother and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Maneka Gandhi has termed the forensic report to be a “one sided version.”
“The entire tape was doctored. Nobody has seen the tape. We are talking about voices. The point is that this is a version which is a one sided version. We will answer this and prove it in court. But the entire tape has not proven to be authentic. We have said the words are interchanged. 50 other things have gone wrong there. Now lets see,” Maneka told reporters in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, Congress party spokesman Manish Tewari held the entire BJP responsible for supporting Varun Gandhi’s hate speech, and trying to reap political dividend out of it.
“He has been caught out. And it is not Varun Gandhi who alone is responsible, the responsibility is of the entire BJP, the entire Sangh Parivar that stood by him, they thought that they could reap political dividend out of it. When you sow the wind you reap the whirlwind. This is exactly what has happened in this case,” Tewari said.
Varun had been embroiled in a controversy for making inflammatory comments against Muslims during an election rally in Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh state.
Varun Gandhi, who was arrested in Pilibhit on March 28, on the charges of making inflammatory communal remarks at election meetings in his constituency on March 6, was released from the Etah district Jail in Uttar Pradesh on April 16, after he gave a fresh undertaking that he would not make any inflammatory speeches.
He had been recorded as saying, "If anyone raises a finger towards Hindus or if someone thinks that Hindus are weak and leaderless, if someone thinks that these leaders lick our boots for votes, if anyone raises a finger towards Hindus, then I swear on Gita that I will cut that hand."
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