Varun Gandhi's arrest immediately sparked off an extended round of violence outside the Pilibhit jail.
BJP’s new saffron soldier Varun Gandhi surrendered on Saturday in the Pilibhit district court. His arrest immediately sparked off an extended round of violence outside the Pilibhit jail. Several protestors and policemen were injured as police resorted to caning and firing in the air. Police also had to fire teargas shells to disperse the mobs which surrounded the district jail.
Varun will have to spend at least two days in the Pilibhit jail as his case comes up for hearing on Monday.
The arrest is seen as the BJP’s calculated move to project Varun as a martyr to reap dividends out of his pro-Hindutva speech over which the Election Commission got cases filed against him. Varun, the BJP candidate from Pilibhit, is charged with spreading communal hatred through his speeches.
Far from being apologetic, Varun looked confident to the point of being aggressive. “I am ready to go to jail... I am not one to take back my steps,” he told reporters just before entering the court to surrender. He did not retract the anti-minority statements he is alleged to have made in his now-famous hate speech. Varun also did not repeat his earlier plea that the CD was a fake or the voice in the CD was not his.
Earlier on Saturday, Pilibhit was witness to a big spectacle as soon as Varun landed there in the morning. Thousands of BJP workers followed Varun’s vehicle as he moved towards the district court. Around 11.30 am, he surrendered before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) and was sent into judicial custody.
As soon as Varun was put behind bars, his supporters started hurling brickbats at the police. As the mob virtually fought a pitched battle against the men in uniform, the police had to burst teargas shells and open fire to quell the violence. The protestors later sat on a dharna outside the jail till the evening.
The top BJP brass also seem to be backing Varun’s latest gambit. This became apparent as the BJP’s UP election incharge Kalraj Mishra also reached the court where Varun surrendered. “I am here to see that the election code of conduct is not violated,” he told reporters. “Varun is definitely our candidate,” he added.
State BJP chief Ramapati Ram Tripathi spoke to the media in a similar vein in Gorakhpur. Asked if Varun will campaign for other candidates, too, he said: “Why not? If he gets time, he will definitely campaign for party nominees elsewhere.” Tripathi admitted that several party candidates had requested that Varun be sent to their constituencies for campaigning.
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