Varun Gandhi should be arrested: Kapil Sibal

Slamming Bharatiya Janata Party leader Varun Gandhi for his alleged communal speech and his unapologetic stand, union minister Kapil Sibal today said there was no place for people like him in politics and he should be arrested.

Slamming Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi for his alleged communal speech and his unapologetic stand, union minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said there was no place for people like him in politics and he should be arrested.

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The BJP candidate from Pilibhit constituency in Uttar Pradesh, who is facing a criminal case for his alleged hate-Muslim campaign speech, should be arrested, said Sibal.

The senior Congress leader added that Varun Ganhdi's offence should be treated as non-bailable.

"There is no place for people like Varun Gandhi in Indian politics," Sibal told CNN-IBN news channel.

It was up to the BJP to "decide what kind of national campaign they want", Sibal said, adding that Varun Gandhi would have to prove to the Election Commission his claim that the CD containing his speech was doctored.

Asserting that he was a "Gandhi, a Hindu and an Indian" in equal measure, an unapologetic Varun Gandhi said here Wednesday that the CD showing him making an inflammatory speech was doctored and that was not his voice, nor his words.

"I am proud of my faith, not apologising for it," Varun Gandhi told reporters while reading out a written statement.

"I am a victim of a political conspiracy... Those are not my words, that is not my voice. I want to ask the nation to stand by me," he added.