If my surname was not Gandhi, would I have become an MP at the age of 29, asks Varun Gandhi

'I want to see an India where it doesn't matter if I am Varun Dutta or Varun Ghosh or Varun Khan. I want to see a nation where all are given equal rights, regardless of their names,' the BJP MP said

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Varun Gandhi made the remarks while advocating for people’s Right to Recall their elected representatives if they failed to fulfil their duties. File Photo

BJP MP Varun Gandhi has said he would not have become a Lok Sabha member had he not hailed from the Gandhi family. “I am Feroze Varun Gandhi. If my surname was not Gandhi, would I have become an MP at the age of 29? I want to see an India where it doesn’t matter if I am Varun Dutta or Varun Ghosh or Varun Khan. I want to see a nation where all are given equal rights, regardless of their names,” ANI quoted Gandhi as saying at an event in Guwahati.

Gandhi made the remarks while advocating for people’s Right to Recall their elected representatives if they failed to fulfil their duties. “Winning an election is not enough… People must have the right to recall and I introduced this bill (a private member’s bill) in Parliament as a step to ensure that people, if not satisfied with their representatives, can get them removed,” he said.

The MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur constituency last year had proposed an amendment in the Representation of the People Act 1951 through a private member’s bill in the Parliament, seeking people’s right to remove their elected representatives within two years from being elected if 75 per cent of those who voted for them were not satisfied with their performance.

Citing an example, he said in Britain, the electorate could collectively petition the government and if over a lakh signatures were there, a discussion could be initiated in Parliament ensuring accountability of an elected representative. “Whether you see politics, films, cricket or business, it seems like all doors are closed for the common man,” Gandhi said.

He further shared an example of farmers from Tamil Nadu protesting against the agrarian crisis and committing suicide but were ignored by the state assembly. “On my request, there was a full day session at the Tamil Nadu assembly, and they argued for a full day too, but for doubling the salary of MLAs,” Gandhi said.

Instead, poor people came to donate whatever they could for a campaign to rescue farmers from attempting suicide, the MP told.

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