The cops were so worried that senior officers who do not have the privilege of headgear unlike their foot soldiers, were seen marshaling their forces from under the faux protection offered by cricket helmets, wielding batons instead of bats.
The people of the border town with a sizeable Muslim population, however, went about their business like it was just another Saturday.
As the saffron-waving, bandana-sporting Bharatiya Janata Party supporters marched towards the district court in large numbers despite the imposition of Section 144, school children of all ages pedaled and weaved their way on foot in the opposite direction after the usual second Saturday's half-day. Most shops were open and it was business as usual on the roads.
Neither were Muslims, the supposed targets of Gandhi's hate speeches, confined to their living rooms.While a handful that hung around at intersections pretending that everything was normal, curiosity to catch a first glimpse of the baby-faced 29-year-old candidate brought others --women especially--to their doorsteps. Asked who she was waiting for, a middle aged woman was quick in response with a twinkle in her eye: "Arre, wouldn't I want to see the man who is scared by the mere mention of our names."
Was she not scared? "Do you seriously believe Hindus and Muslims in Pilibhit are going to fight over what one person said? I don't think so. I think--and my Hindu neighbours agree that this is just for political gains and nothing more. And elections are on May 13. I don't know how many people will remember the speech," she said.
So is it a foregone conclusion that Varun's move is futile? Not really so, the locals say. Here's how their logic goes:
Maneka Gandhi, who has been associated with the town for the past 20 years and has been representing it in the Lok Sabha since 1996, has done absolutely nothing to develop the town. Zilch. "Pilibhit does not even have a broad gauge line. It does not have a decent highway to any of the major neighbouring cities. A couple of schools from the MP development fund is all that she has to show for," said Ejaz Ahmed, chairman of the Jalanabad local council.
As the time for nominations came, Maneka stepped aside to give way to Varun, who had wanted to contest in the 2004 general elections, but was a year short of the requisite age of 25. "It was very smart of her to abandon the constituency and bring him in. That was their first move to sidetrack the development issue. Varun could now say it was not his fault and ask for a chance to prove himself," Ahmed said.
Varun's supporters however, have another take. If his detractors take you all the way back to the 1990s to explain what is now happening, his supporters are content to rewind the clock by just two years to 2007, when the state assembly elections happened.
"Pilibhit has four assembly constituencies. In the 2007 elections, Muslim candidates won three of those. From then on, the scales began to tilt in the favour of Muslims. When a former minister, Ram Sharan Varma, campaigned against the murder of a chat seller during Ram Lila, the current minister in charge of Haj, Hanif Mohamed Khan got him jailed under the National Security Act," said Krishna Kumar Pandey, a friend of the family and BJP worker. He added that the Hindus of the town want to regain their lost supremacy.
Though the above two lines of reasoning provide some background, the reason that might have directly caused Varun to take the vitriolic line are immediate and recent, observers add.
Even Ahmed concedes. "Who would want to lose his first contest for such a high post? Won't his political career be finished even before it starts? Come to think of it, Varun did not have any option other than use the Hindutva line," he said.
If the fear of losing on debut might have sown the seeds of doubt, then the quality and mix of opponents might have sent him off the edge. "The opponents are strong. The Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress and Samajwadi Party all have powerful candidates. In fact, the Congress candidate VM Singh is Maneka's cousin. The SP has a strong Muslim candidate," Ayaz Khan, an advocate at the district court said.
What Varun hoped to do with his speech is to rally all the Hindu votes under him. Though there is no saying just yet whether he will succeed, locals say with certainty that is has in fact complicated his position.
Muslim voters, who usually hold their cards close to their chest, have started exploring the options and zeroed down on one. "We want to defeat Varun. We can either support the SP candidate Riaz Ahmed or throw our weight behind the BSP candidate," said one local muslim leader who did not want to be named.
His reasoning: "The Hindu vote will now no doubt rally around Varun. Out of a total electorate of 12lakh, Muslims number only 2,27,000. That might not be enough to help the SP candidate defeat Varun. On the other hand, if we go with the BSP candidate, there are chances that our support might consolidate their core base and help them pip the BJP."
Out of nowhere, the scoreline now reads like this. Match: BJP vs Muslims. Winner: BSP.
That also explains Saturday's developments, another senior advocate said. "I was present when the district officials discussed the situation on Friday. Their superiors had told them not to arrest Varun nor deal with his supporters with a heavy hand. Otherwise, so many people could not have entered town when 144 was imposed.
"So at the end of the day, though Saturday's events might look like it is advantage BJP, it has only managed to push the Muslims closer to the Bahujan Samaj Party's corner," he concluded.
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