TOI

New Delhi, Mar 18: A day after an FIR was filed against BJP candidate from Pilibhit (UP) Varun Gandhi for his inflammatory remarks with communal overtones, The CD has been doctored, says Varun.
 
Gandhi today said that a big political conspiracy was behind the controversy and the CD showing his alleged anti-Muslim tirade had been doctored.

Referring to the CD which has video footage of his communal speech, Gandhi said, "I’ve been a victim of political conspiracy. This is a vigorous attempt to malign my faith...Those are not my words, this is not my voice.”

“The CD has been doctored,” he claimed.

TV reports quoting UP police sources, however, say the CD is authentic and the voice belongs to Varun Gandhi.

While addressing an election meeting in Pilibhit from where he is being fielded, Varun Gandhi had said, “This is not a 'Hand' (Congress symbol), it is the power of the 'Lotus' (BJP symbol). It will cut the head of ....... Jai Shri Ram."

Continuing in the same vein, he told another meeting "If anyone raises a finger towards Hindus or if someone thinks that Hindus are weak and leaderless, if someone thinks that these leaders lick our boots for votes, if anyone raises a finger towards Hindus, then I swear on Gita that I will cut that hand."

Today, while addressing the media, he said, “I am a Gandhi, a Hindu and an Indian in equal measure,”

He went on to add, “I have not made any communal statement...I want the people to stand by me. It is a malicious attempt to brand me communal. There is no question of my having any ill feeling towards (any) community," he said.

"My attempt is to instill confidence in a community which feels it is under siege in their own country."

Sticking to the saffron party’s roots, the son of late Sanjay Gandhi and BJP leader Maneka Gandhi asserted “I am a proud Hindu...I’m proud of my faith, not apologetic about it,”

Thousands of people from the Hindu community had been arrested under the National Security Act, temples had been vandalised and village pradhans threatened daily, the scion of the estranged Gandhi family said and claimed his effort was "to restore confidence in the community".

Pilibhit, he said, was a sensitive border area and there was the widespread fear that arms had been smuggled in.

Declaring that India was "a big country with a big heart", he said the CD was supposed to have been based on a speech given on March 4 but released on March 16.

The Election Commission on Tuesday asked its UP chief electoral officer Anuj Bishnoi to file an FIR against Varun under sections 153A (inciting communal hatred) and 188 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code and section 125 of the Representative of People's Act.

Soon after, station officer of Barkhera in Lakhimpur district registered an FIR against the young leader who is standing from a seat nurtured by his mother. EC has separately issued notice to Varun and BJP, transferred two officials and suspended another two. The charge of inciting enmity between communities can result in three years in jail -- a sentence of two years can bar a person from contesting polls.

This is the third FIR against Varun in the constituency that Maneka has vacated for him after deciding to move to neighbouring Aonla.