Congress doctored Varun CD: Maneka

As Varun readied to face arrest, Maneka took on the Congress — two days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi had spoken out against him — accusing it of sending a doctored CD to the Election Commission, this time showing him slamming Sikhs as well as Muslims, reports Shekhar Iyer.

Maneka Gandhi came to the defence of her son

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Varun on Thursday, finally breaking her silence on the issue of his hate speech in Pilibhit.

Varun is in the dock as his anticipatory bail granted by Delhi High Court against the FIRs filled against him were to expire on Friday.

As Varun readied to face arrest, Maneka took on the Congress — two days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi had spoken out against him — accusing it of sending a doctored CD to the Election Commission, this time showing him slamming Sikhs as well as Muslims.

The former Union minister chose a Punjab TV channel to charge that the Congress was taking up the case to “conceal” its “anti-Sikh acts”. Pilibhit, which she represents in the outgoing Lok Sabha, has a sizable chunk of Sikh voters.

“It has become empirical for the Congress to show such tapes (of hate speeches) to conceal their anti-Sikh acts,” she said. “The Congress had to show this tape because they have given the tickets to those who have killed thousands of Sikhs during the anti-Sikh riots. They should be ashamed.”

“I am proud of being a Sikh. Sikhism was founded to defend Hindus and there is hardly any difference between a Sikh and a Hindu,” she said.

Senior Congress senior leader Kapil Sibal hit back saying the Congress has nothing to do with the issue, adding that “there is enough and more prima facie evidence against Varun”.