Pilibhit's five-time MP Maneka Gandhi is not commenting on her son's hate speech. But Maneka's 13 years of work in Pilibhit could be ruined by Varun Gandhi's campaign of hate against Muslims.
But was it a sudden outburst or a carefully thought out political strategy? (Watch)
Pilibhit, near Bareily in north west Uttar Pradesh, is a communally sensitive area and after delimitation, the constituency has about 1,20,000 more Muslim voters. In all, there will be over 4,20,000 Muslims voters in these elections.
The numbers, giving an edge to Riaz Ahmed, the SP candidate and Varun's main rival. He is the man the young Gandhi even called Osama Bin laden.
"Maneka Gandhi is not contesting this time as she knows she is going to loose," he said.
Varun Gandhi needs every non-Muslim vote he can get. But his tactic of such a direct attack on Muslims doesn't seem to have many takers.
"They are trying to divide the vote bank into Hindus and Muslims. They are sure that they won't get the Muslim vote so why not try for the Hindus only?" a local resident said.
Varun is saying the tapes have been doctored but many others are suggesting a clear motive behind it; an attempt to polarise the Hindu-Muslim vote in the constituency where he is contesting from. But it is a strategy that could have badly misfired. It seems that this is the time for a rethink for Varun Gandhi to keep Pilibhit.
