July 30, 2010  Print Email | Election authorities censure Indira grandson over poll speech
Accused of anti-Muslim remarks
Posted by Agencies at 09:29 AM GMT on Mar 23, 2009 | NEW DELHI (AFP): India's Election Commission has ticked off the grandson of former premier Indira Gandhi for making "highly derogatory" remarks against Muslims while on the campaign trail.
The Commission also told the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to drop Varun Gandhi as a candidate for the election, which starts on 16 April.
 Varun Gandhi has been at the centre of a political storm since recordings appeared of an election rally during which he delivered what has been branded an anti-Muslim hate speech.
The election commission said late yesterday that it "condemned and censured" him over the remarks, reported to have included a vow that his BJP would "cut the hand of Muslims."
The election watchdog also dismissed Varun's claims that the recordings had been tampered with.
Muslims make up India's largest minority community, and relations with majority Hindus have been marked by periodic outbreaks of communal violence since the country's independence from Britain in 1947.
The BJP, however, said it would ignore the commission's advice. "We have turned down the decision of the election commission. It has no right to give such an advice," said BJP spokesman Balbir Punj.
Varun is the son of Indira's second child Sanjay, a side of the family that was disowned by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. The family has no blood relation to Mahatma Gandhi, the icon of India's independence movement.
His aunt, Sonia Gandhi, widow of Indira's eldest son Rajiv, heads the ruling Congress Party and is considered the torch bearer of the charismatic family.
Sonia's daughter Priyanka told reporters while campaigning for her mother that Varun's comments were "sad."
A court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to Varun, meaning he can avoid immediate arrest over the remarks.
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