<p>The BJP’s candidate from Pilibhit told ‘The Telegraph’ daily that he would propose a bill in Parliament to introduce compulsory military service for all Indians to unite the country and overcome caste and religious differences.<br /><br />During the interview, the 29-year-old Varun said the country has been lacking a strong leadership for 20 years.<br /><br />The newspaper correspondent, who talked to him during his election tour of Pilibhit, wrote that Gandhi has vowed to revive the controversial population control policies pioneered by his father.<br /><br />Politics, Varun said, was his destiny, and added: “Anyone who says they have no ambition to achieve power at some stage is lying.”<br /><br />“Instead of people thinking of themselves as Tamils or Brahmins, they should think of themselves as Indians,” he said.<br /><br />Referring to his recent controversial remarks, Varun denied threatening Muslims, but had vowed to protect local people from “anti-social” elements after three local girls were reportedly gang-raped. <br /><br />However, clarifying his report, Dean Nelson, the South Asia correspondent of the paper, told a television channel in Delhi that Gandhi did not want a return to the heavy-handed methods that were carried out by the government at that time (during the Emergency).<br />Gandhi was talking about using carrot rather than stick by offering incentives to the families to have fewer children. <br /><br />The Bharatiya Janata Party distanced itself from Varun’s reported remarks favouring forced sterilisation.<br /><br />BJP spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh said in New Delhi: “It’s his personal view. As far as the BJP is concerned, we promote family planning but not by forceful means. That (forced sterilisation) is not a part of our policy.”<br /><br />Senior BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad later said at a press conference: “I have not seen the interview. We (BJP) are in favour of family planning, not forced sterilisation.”<br />Varun’s denial<br />Later on Saturday night Varun himself denied having made a statement in favour of forced sterilisation.<br />In fact, he had broadly favoured “a sensible family planning programme” through education, awareness and positive incentives, he said in the statement.<br /><br /></p>
<p>The BJP’s candidate from Pilibhit told ‘The Telegraph’ daily that he would propose a bill in Parliament to introduce compulsory military service for all Indians to unite the country and overcome caste and religious differences.<br /><br />During the interview, the 29-year-old Varun said the country has been lacking a strong leadership for 20 years.<br /><br />The newspaper correspondent, who talked to him during his election tour of Pilibhit, wrote that Gandhi has vowed to revive the controversial population control policies pioneered by his father.<br /><br />Politics, Varun said, was his destiny, and added: “Anyone who says they have no ambition to achieve power at some stage is lying.”<br /><br />“Instead of people thinking of themselves as Tamils or Brahmins, they should think of themselves as Indians,” he said.<br /><br />Referring to his recent controversial remarks, Varun denied threatening Muslims, but had vowed to protect local people from “anti-social” elements after three local girls were reportedly gang-raped. <br /><br />However, clarifying his report, Dean Nelson, the South Asia correspondent of the paper, told a television channel in Delhi that Gandhi did not want a return to the heavy-handed methods that were carried out by the government at that time (during the Emergency).<br />Gandhi was talking about using carrot rather than stick by offering incentives to the families to have fewer children. <br /><br />The Bharatiya Janata Party distanced itself from Varun’s reported remarks favouring forced sterilisation.<br /><br />BJP spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh said in New Delhi: “It’s his personal view. As far as the BJP is concerned, we promote family planning but not by forceful means. That (forced sterilisation) is not a part of our policy.”<br /><br />Senior BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad later said at a press conference: “I have not seen the interview. We (BJP) are in favour of family planning, not forced sterilisation.”<br />Varun’s denial<br />Later on Saturday night Varun himself denied having made a statement in favour of forced sterilisation.<br />In fact, he had broadly favoured “a sensible family planning programme” through education, awareness and positive incentives, he said in the statement.<br /><br /></p>