Gandhi scion enters elections

PILIBHIT (India) – VARUN Gandhi, an heir to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, filed papers on Wednesday to run in India’s election despite facing charges of inciting religious hatred during campaigning.

A great-grandson of the country’s first premier Jawaharlal Nehru, Mr Varun was detained after making an election rally speech in which he suggested the Hindu nationalist party that he supports would suppress India’s Muslims.

Last week, the Supreme Court granted Mr Varun parole on condition that he refrain from making any inflammatory speeches.

He handed his papers to poll officials on Wednesday in the Pilibhit constituency in northern Uttar Pradesh state, 340 kilometres from New Delhi.

Varun, 29, has broken with the ‘first family’ of Indian politics by joining the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), rather than the secular-minded Congress.

India is voting to elect a new parliament in a mammoth poll spanning five stages from April 16 to May 13. — AFP

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