Neither firebrand nor right wing, I am centre-left thinking person, says Varun

In the recently launched “India Tomorrow: Conversations with the Next Generation of Political Leaders”, Varun Gandhi also terms Britain’s Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and US’ Democratic Party senator Bernie Sanders, both known for advocating left economic and social policies, his political inspirations.

The book gives readers a snapshot of contemporary Indian politics through interviews of 20 of the country’s most prominent next-generation politicians.

“My sense is, if one were to look at it in terms of ideology or policy, then I am a centre-left thinking person. I am not a right-wing person by nature. If you have read all my writings, for the last 10 years I have had a consistently progressive liberal record. As a person, I have grown into this voice which is what’s inside me,” Varun Gandhi says in an interview to the authors, Pradeep Chhibber and Harsh Shah. The Gandhi-Nehru scion — he’s the son of the late Sanjay Gandhi and BJP leader Maneka Gandhi — joined the BJP in 2004. He fought and won his first election in 2009 from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, the same seat he represents right now, with a margin of nearly three lakh votes. The Pilibhit MP also brings up issues such as economic inequality, environment justice, disadvantaged communities in the interview to buttress his point of being a staunch progressive liberal. “... I have always taken stands that are symptomatic of some desire for progressive change. The kind of support and love I get from a variety of audiences, I get about 10 times more support from the liberals than I get from the right-wingers. In fact, I get knocked by the right- wingers many times but I never get knocked by liberals ever,” he says.

Varun Gandhi adds that communists always joke with him and say he is a “communist in the BJP”. Varun also points out that he was the “only MP in Parliament” to sit at Anna Hazare’s dharna and support the Lokpal Bill.

“I don’t think, to be honest, that anybody thinks any more that I am a firebrand person or a strident person. If you look at any of the public platforms, I don’t think anybody would mention that. The thing is it was a very bizarre thing, the so-called speech, because when I fought my case and won, they apologised to me,” he adds.