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A Mouthful of Venom:
Another Gandhi Foams From the Gutter
by KHUSHWANT SINGH [New Delhi]
There is something weird about Varun Gandhi's recent fulminations against Muslims and Sikhs; it defies common sense.
He used the abusive term "saley" for Muslims and according to The Indian Express report, used the racial slur "bara bajey" (noon time) for his Sikh opponent.
It was the language of the gutter, for which he should not be forgiven.
I refrained from commenting on the subject, as at one time I had quite a lot to do with his mother Maneka Gandhi, her mother Amtesh, both Sikhs, like all their other relations. We had a bitter parting of ways and I thought it would not be fair on my part to say anything about Varun's bad-mouthing other communities.
I was sorely disappointed as on one occasion, when his mother invited me to the launch of his collection of poems, I forced myself to go. I read his poems, liked them and gave them a favourable write-up. I thought if this young man is into poetry, he will be above dirty politics.
I was wrong.
When and why did anti-Muslim venom enter his mind? During his grandmother Indira Gandhi's time, a permanent fixture in the home was a Muslim, Mohammed Yunus. Both his parents addressed him as "Chacha Yunus". They were married in his house on Tughlak Road by Navin Chawla, now election commissioner.
I never heard Sanjay or any other member of the Gandhi family use derogatory words for Muslims. The words bara bajey for a Sikh is even harder to understand.
Didn't he realize that it would not go down well with the Badals and their Akali colleagues who are allies of his own party, the BJP? His utterance must have deeply embarrassed his leader L.K. Advani (who is an Amil believing in Sikhism), Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley.
In short, Varun Gandhi has, as the saying goes, cooked his own goose.
Has he gone off his rocker?
He would be well-advised to undergo psychiatric treatment and confine himself to writing poetry.
[Courtesy: The Hindustan Times]
April 5, 2009
Conversation about this article
1: Nash Mann (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), April 30, 2009, 11:35 AM.
It is sad to see such a racist enter the political arena.
2: Dr. Davinder Kochar (Australia), May 16, 2009, 11:14 AM.
Very well written, but so sad to see that he and his mother both have won elections for the Lok Sabha; I can't believe this. I am a Psychiatrist and I can professionally tell you that such degradation in personality, though often seen in some politicians, is indeed a sign of a sick mind. How to reconcile the two images: one of a wise, mature, gentle, soft-spoken, thoughtful person like Manmohan Singh and the second of a foolish, imbecile, cheap, publicity-seeking, ugly stuntman like Varun Gandhi ... India will always invoke extreme love-hate images. Khushwant has always given apt descriptions of India's paradoxes and dilemmas fearlessly and he has done this again. I wish he would write more to expose the mad, cheap, self-serving, good-for-nothing politicians that plague India.