After the media spotlight fades away from Varun Gandhi, I hope he realizes the enormity of the blunder he has committed at the very beginning of his career by committing to such an extremist stance. His speech might have evoked certain cheers from his supporters and sections of his party, but these are all temporary, and he should wait for the day when the senior members of his own party sideline him. After all, he has two glaring examples in Pravin Togadia and Professor Balraj Madhok, who had taken a similar positions and who later found their political ambitions had been cut short by their own party. This is ironic, because for a party whose core is Hindu nationalism, the ascent of Togadia and Madhok on the national political stage should have been a natural occurrence. What Varun said in his election speech at Pilibhit is far more vitriolic and therefore damaging than anything ever said by Prof. Madhok or Togadia. Moreover, even Hindus know fully well that Varun is not a devout Hindu in the first place, and that everything he has said is just a tactic to win this election.

Mind your own money

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram came out with a statement last week on how the UPA government had conducted an enquiry into the crores of Indian funds parked in Swiss bank accounts and has been diligently trying to get this money back into the country. Despite Chidambaram’s clarification, the BJP is keen to turn this into a major election issue. I find it amusing that the BJP is raking this controversy having taken a cue from an article published on a website, when the party had every opportunity to investigate and recover these funds during its five-year term in the centre. Far from taking a single step towards uncovering the sources of these funds during the NDA regime, the BJP did not even speak about it. Some explanation is clearly needed from the party on why it suddenly remembered the Swiss money right ahead of the general elections.

... contd.