Imran Masood, Varun Gandhi Are 2-Faces Of The Same Coin

By Capt. G R Gopinath (Guest Writer)

OPINION 'Never whittle toward yourself or pee against the wind', is a wise old saying among farmers which the parties will do well to remember. Things have a way of coming back to you.

The outrageous and barbaric outpourings of Imran Masood the Congress candidate for Parliament from Saharanpur in UP, that he will cut Narendra Modi to pieces is not just despicable and shameful but deserves swift prosecution for murder and punishment, if found guilty under the new Supreme Court guidelines which entails trial to be completed by lower courts within twelve months.
But the worrying thing is a larger issue. The political parties and their leaders in their craze for power and to win at all costs, have accommodated criminal elements as candidates under a pretext that they are not yet convicted. And the depravity is evident.

The BJP spokesmen in self righteous anger, are condemning and fulminating against Imran. Can it get more hollow? Why did they not expel Varuna Gandhi for a similar crime in the last elections when pouring venom in full public view, he thundered that, "And these hands would chop off the heads of Muslims after the elections." He's not only roaming free but he's often used as a mascot by a large number of bigots in the BJP and it's alter ego, the RSS. And he has now been given a ticket to contest.

Even after the Supreme Court strictures and orders disallowing candidates to contest an election or hold any public office from the moment of conviction, and in the face of such overwhelming anger against corruption and criminalisation of politics, a shocking 3o per cent of candidates for the ensuing elections have pending criminal cases against them? How insensitive, how politically foolhardy not to see the writing on the wall? Have lessons learnt in Delhi elections been so soon forgotten?

And the recklessness continues without scruples and throwing all prudence to the wind. The BJP state unit in Karnataka admitted amidst a lot of fanfare the infamous and rabidly communal Pramod Muthalik of The Ram Sena who along with goons behaved like Taliban and beat up women for drinking in pubs five years ago. And now after the public outcry, the party quickly retracted and denied him membership.

And now Sabir Ali, the man who openly supported the most wanted terrorist of the country Yasin Bhatkal and also accused in a murder case has been welcomed into the party. And how much more ridiculous can it get? Sabir Ali was the bete noir of BJP in Bihar. He heaped abuse on Modi and held him responsible for the death of Muslims in Gujarat riots and was one of the fifty MPs who wrote to the US to deny Modi a US visa.

When the BJP is gaining from strength to strength and coasting to victory under the development plank and the personal integrity of Narendra Modi, why this 'harakiri'?
And Rahul Gandhi? Why this deafening silence?

If both the parties do not want to heed the farmers adage, they might as well remember from the Bible, 'As you sow, so shall you reap'.