Randeep Singh Nandal:
A day after the National Security Act imposed against him was deemed invalid, Varun Gandhi's rhetoric in Pilibhit was once again charged.
"Everyone knows that the people of Pilibhit have lived together in peace. But that does not mean that if we are attacked we will sit and watch like eunuchs," Varun said in his speech.
The Hindu
yuva samrat, as his supporters now like to call him, spent the day crisscrossing Pilibhit and addressing rallies. Though the jibes in his speech against Mayawati got just a little sharper, he didn't come on record about the revocation of NSA against him.
"When the Chief Minister visited Pilibhit, she mentioned my name 27 times. Why did she not bring up other issues?" he said.
The election is just days away now, and going by the crowds he is attracting, Varun is definitely in the fight. His jail time has added a halo to the 29-year-old that he is looking to encash on May 13.
"Everyone who is here should vote for only one party. They should vote for the development of the country," Varun said in his rally.
Politically, Mayawati slapping the NSA on Varun was also a message to the Muslim votebank. But for Varun, going to jail added the aura of a martyr fighting for the Hindu cause -- a fact Varun mentions in each and every speech he makes in Pilibhit. Now the result on May 13 will see how his tactics worked.