30 Mar : BJP’s candidate from Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi, plunged into deeper trouble on Sunday night with the Uttar Pradesh govt deciding to book him under the National Security Act (NSA) for inciting communal tensions which may result in him being under detention for upto one year.
In a possible unprecedented action of NSA being slapped for a hate speech, Gandhi, who is in the eye of a storm for his alleged anti-Muslim utterances, the Mayawati government said there were three grounds which were taken into consideration by the state government for the decision.
"An order issued hy Pilibhit district magistrate Ajay Chauhan invoking NSA on the BJP nominee has been served to Gandhi, who is currently lodged in the district jail," Additional Cabinet Secretary Vijay Shanker Pandey told reporters in Lucknow.
The UP police said Varun Gandhi has been charged under Section 2 and 3 of the NSA for allegedly inciting communal tension in Pilibhit.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer K T S Tulsi said " it seems he will have to stay in jail may be even for a year or more because the government is clearly worried about the implications that it could have in the rest of the country.
NSA against Varun vendetta politics: BJP
The BJP reacted sharply to the invoking of NSA against its candidate Varun Gandhi, saying it was the "worst kind of vendetta politics at work".
"This is pure vendetta politics aimed at vote bank," party spokesperson Prakash Javedkar said.
"This is not emergency days. The nation is watching. Gandhi has been charged under this Act at a time when a TADA convict (Sanjay Dutt) is seeking his election from Lucknow and many more culprits are in the fray," Javdekar said.
The party would react to the development in a structured way on Monday. The saffron party is confident that the voters would be giving a befitting reply, he added.