Varun's Dilemma, BJP's Trouble

What happened to Varun Gandhi is scarcely news now (1, 2 and 3). The drama in the aftermath of that infamous speech of Varun at an election rally has been covered in all its aspects by the media. Still, the pundits are still not sure why Varun, who had managed to keep a low profile till now in his political career of four years, chose to be a radical speaker. Some have termed as rabid the speech made by Varun. Even his party Bharatiya Janata Party has disasociated itself with the stand taken by Varun. Apparently, it does not want to offend the election commission as well as the large middle road voters.

The answer lies in the identity crisis. This crisis lies in case of Varun as well as BJP. Varun Gandhi is a member of the Gandhi family that has ruled for the most of part of last 62 years after India's independence. His father, Sanjay Gandhi was heir apparent of the family when Indira Gandhi, Sanjay's mother and Varun's grandmother ruled the Congress government. Sanjay's sudden demise in a plane crash in 1980 paved the way for Rajiv Gandhi to become prime minister four years later. Rajiv himself was killed in 1991 and Varun is now face to face with Rahul, son of Rajiv. Sanjay's tenure as the Congress party leader was marked by sudden zeal and extravagance.

This image still haunts Varun and one expects him to be a shadow of his father. Having failed to Impress upon the mind of the public any achievement of his own, he has no way but to hog the limelight in any way. It is the character of the Indian politics that only stardom sells, people does not go by the credentials of the man. That is why even a Lalu Prasad Yadav could cultivate the dream of becoming prime minister of India. On this background, Varun entered the BJP because he was sure that Congress will not give him the career lift that he wanted.

For BJP, Varun was but a showpiece that it could keep to attract the people. It knew that Varun has little ideological connections with the party but it wanted a piece of the Gandhi family pie. It fell prey to the superstition that a party can occupy the power only if it has a Gandhi in it. That is why, it did not any prominence to this young and ambitious man in last five years. Meanwhile, Rahul came to occupy more and more space in the political stage of the country. Prompting people to compare to Varun not only with Sanjay but with Rahul also.

That put burden on this man who has relatively little experience of political games. Having unable to evaluate himself in terms of the political ideology or action, he went on to rant what he heard from other leaders of his party like Narendra Modi. But he forgot that when Modi roars and world reacts, a large chunk of Gujarati supporters are behind him. Also, Modi himself is so suave that he manages thousands such oppositions from within and without. It has not happened in case of Varun. Barring some loyal supporters of Sanjay, he got support from few quarter. No familiar with such incidences, he first feebly tried to shoo away the controversy saying the CD of the speech was doctored. When he found that the contention was in vain, he tried to become a hero and defiantly surrendered himself to the court. This was because he is not sure what he is.

To allow Varun to grow out of dilemma, one has to stop comparing him to his father or his cousin. Then may be he could think freely and perhaps he can accomplish something.

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