Is Varun a good boy?

Wherever one goes in Pilibhit and whoever one asks about BJP candidate Varun Gandhi, the unanimous answer is that he is behaving like a good boy now. Surprising indeed, because not so long ago the saffron, venom-spewing Gandhi  had been booked under the National Security Act (NSA) and was sent to jail for inflammatory speeches.

Whether it is the Supreme Court, the Election Commission, UP CM Mayawati or mother Maneka’s saner influences, no one really knows. But the fact is that Varun is a faint picture of his aggressive self ever since he returned to Pilibhit on parole granted by the apex court. The rabble-rouser has transformed into a discreet orator taking care to steer clear of controversy.

Rashtravaad (nationalism) and rashtra bhakti (loyalty to the nation) echo repeatedly in his speech. “Yeh rashtra bhakti ki ladaai hai, yeh rashtra bhakton ka chunaav hai... hamein mil kar rashtravaad ke liye ladna hai,” he says at an election meeting in Puranpur. (This is a struggle for the nation; it’s an election of nationalists. We have to fight together for nationalism.)

The speeches are laced with a generous dash of bluster and bravado. Consider this: “Jin logon ne mere liye laathiyaan aur goliyaan khaayee hain, main unke liye khoon bahaane ko taiyyar hoon.” (I am ready to shed my blood for those who were caned or fired at because of me.) Or this: “Yeh janta ke samman ki ladaai hai. Agar iske liye mujhe sar bhi kataana pade to main peeche hatne waala nahin hoon.” (This is a fight for the people’s dignity. I will not withdraw even if I have to get beheaded for this.)

Varun touches the right chord as he lambastes the Mayawati regime over local farmers suffering at the hands of the dalaals (middlemen) in the wheat purchase. “Widows and old women have to pay bribes to get pension,” he says.

He seems to have deleted words like Hindutva and dharma from his dictionary. Local journalists point out that it is the changed demography of Pilibhit after the new delimitation which perhaps drove the 29-year-old first-timer in the electoral arena to desperation.

“Varun was probably worried because the Hindu-dominated Assembly segment, Puwayan, is now in the Shahjahanpur constituency. In its place, Bahedi segment of Bareilly, which has about one lakh Muslim voters, is now part of Pilibhit,” explains senior journalist Devendra Kumar.

“Maneka ji never raised such issues or talked in terms of Hindus and Muslims,” says MP Singh, a prosperous Sikh farmer. Several people here excitedly point out a little-known fact — that Maneka is the only woman MP in the country to have won five times from the same constituency.

The overwhelming support of Hindu and Sikh voters was the main factor behind Maneka’s serial victories, people here say. The delimitation has diluted that. Besides, Maneka’s cousin VM Singh, a turbaned Sikh, is a tough challenger as the Congress candidate. Singh has been an MLA from Puranpur and had contested against Maneka in 2004.