The election commission must not let Varun Gandhi get away

The Hindu
March 20, 2009

Editorials

Venomous communalism

Varun Gandhi’s hate speech during an election rally in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, was couched in language so crude and so violent that it has made hardened communalists blush. His diatribe against the Muslim community, flowing with concentrated poison and punctuated with virtually unprintable remarks, was appalling — even more so because it emerged from a great grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru. Just as shocking is the refusal of Mr. Gandhi — who takes pride in his language skills and has written a book of poems called The Otherness of Self — to register even a twinge of remorse. Instead he has chosen to strike a defiant posture: asserting that he was only speaking up for Hindus, he has simultaneously claimed, against the evidence, that the tapes of the hate speech were doctored. Although the BJP has distanced itself from his remarks, it has failed to take the logical next step: rule out his candidature for the Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat for which nominations are yet to be filed. Secularism, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in the Bommai case, is part of the basic structure of the Constitution and nobody who spews communal venom should be given a ticket to contest the elections.

Under the directions of the Election Commission, a case has been filed against Mr. Gandhi under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code and Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act 1951, which deal with promoting enmity between people on grounds of religion, race, and so on. If found guilty, the 29-year-old politician could receive a maximum punishment of three years in prison. There are no legal provisions to disqualify someone from contesting an election for spreading divisiveness and fostering hate during the campaign — the law invites disqualification only on the conviction of a candidate for specific offences or on his or her being sentenced to two years or more of imprisonment for other offences. Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, one of the few politicians convicted for making communal and inflammatory speeches, was disqualified from either contesting or voting in an election for a period of six years. With no authority to punish hate speeches, the Election Commission’s demonstration of power is limited to cracking the whip on officials: the superintendent of police and the district magistrate of Pilibhit have been transferred for dereliction of duty. It is important that the criminal case against Varun Gandhi, who is in further trouble with complaints that he has distributed money to voters, is pursued diligently. If the son of Sanjay and Maneka Gandhi is allowed to get away with his deliberate and noxious foul, there will be no holding back other exponents of hate speech.