A young nationalist politician jailed in India for inciting racial hatred and mob violence is at the centre of raging controversy in British Columbia over his party’s plans to bring him to Metro Vancouver for a meet and greet with local supporters.

Varun Gandhi is heir to India’s Gandhi-Nehru dynasty and a candidate for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit riding.

The 29-year-old BJP nominee is accused of "promoting enmity" and acts "prejudicial to maintenance of harmony" after singling out minority Muslims in a recent campaign speech.

The incident has become the hot-button issue in the lead up to general elections this month and next in the world’s largest democracy.

Gandhi was granted bail Monday in two criminal cases against him, but remains under armed guard in a segregated cell following additional charges brought against him Sunday under India’s stringent, and rarely invoked, National Security Act.

Nevertheless, BJP party officials in B.C. remain confident that Gandhi, who could be held for a year under the NSA, will be freed this Friday and able to make good on a commitment to meet with Non-Resident Indian supporters in Greater Vancouver on April 10 and 11.

The proposed visit by Varun Gandhi to B.C., timed to coincide with local Vasaikhi celebrations, has raised the ire of local Indians who believe those who would wave a divisive flag of nationalistic, anti-minority sentiment in India have no place in Canada.

"I’m glad he’s still in jail and I hope he doesn’t come out if it - the man doesn’t deserve to be walking around," Dr. Hari Sharma, a Professor Emeritus at Simon Fraser University and President of the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, told the South Asian Post.

"He should not be welcome in Canada and if he arrives here he should get a reception by the people that he deserves."

Said Surinder Sangha, President of the Indo Canadian Workers’ Association, an offshoot of India’s Communist Party of India (Marxist): "He should not be here for what he said about the minorities in India. People are living in harmony here; why are they bringing him here? They should not be playing these games."

Following in his mother’s footsteps, Varun Gandhi has spurned his secular family’s traditional Congress Party ties to stand as a candidate for the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

He is the son of former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s son, Sanjay, who died in a plane crash when Varun was a few months old. His mother, Manika, later fell out with Indira Gandhi, and served several terms as a minister in Hindu nationalist governments of the BJP.

Varun Gandhi has been touted as a future BJP leader, and his alleged anti-Muslim speech has raised his political profile while drawing unprecedented fire from India’s minority groups, including Muslims and Sikhs.

During a campaign speech late last month in Pilibhit, Gandhi allegedly compared a rival Muslim politician to Osama bin Laden.

Targeting minority Muslims, he is also reported to have said: "If somebody lifts a hand against Hindus, or thinks they are weak, (that) there is nobody behind them, then I swear on the (Bhagavad) Gita [Hindu holy scripture] that I will cut off that hand."

India’s Election Commission reprimanded him while the Uttar Pradesh police lodged a criminal case against him for the incendiary remarks.

Varun Gandhi was initially booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. Accusing him of granting his supporters a "free hand," police later booked him for arson and rioting following the violent incidents preceding his arrest in Pilibhit Saturday.

According to media reports, 50 BJP workers were also arrested Saturday after they blocked roads and clashed with the police. Police reportedly opened fire, injuring three bystanders.

At press time, Pilibhit was under virtual lockdown with a two-kilometre security phalanx surrounding the local courthouse and jail, and armed police of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) maintaining a strict vigil to prevent any recurrence of violence.

Sunday night, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kumari Mayawati’s government – accusing Gandhi of "spreading communal hatred"– invoked the NSA against the young politician.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday termed as "very unfortunate" the hate remarks attributed to Gandhi.

"If what has been attributed to him is true, then it is very, very unfortunate," said Manmohan Singh.

"He has a distinguished legacy. Right from the time of (India’s first prime minister) Jawaharlal Nehru, his (Nehru-Gandhi) family has devoted their life to the cause of secularism.

"I speak more in sorrow than in anger," the prime minister added.

For his part, Gandhi maintains his comments were taken out of context and that recordings of his speech were doctored.

Senior BJP party leader Kalraj Mishra, who accompanied Gandhi in Pilibhit, blamed the Congress party and other left-leaning parties for conspiring to give Gandhi’s election speeches a "communal" angle.

"Everyone knows that except the BJP, all the parties adopt a sectarian posture and it is a conspiracy to malign the secular image of the BJP," Mishra stated.

In B.C., Vikram Bajwa, head of the BJP’s NRI cell, described the arrest and detention of Varun Gandhi as "unfortunate" and said the NSA was invoked "without verification."

Bajwa said "we’ll keep our fingers crossed" but "I think it will be cleared by this Friday."

The local BJP organizer said Gandhi has been unjustly targeted by opposition parties. He said the young BJP nominee is eager to come to B.C. to speak with young NRI’s.

"He’s very outspoken, he speaks from the heart, this is very important with the younger generation," he told the South Asian Post.

"He should come here . . . he feels it’s time to change India’s political image outside. Let him come out and let him speak out about what’s happened."

But Varun Gandhi may find himself at the centre of an other controversy if he does come to B.C.

"He is promoting fascist nationalistic ideology," said Dr. Sharma. "We’ll make sure he gets the proper reception from the angry people."

Added Workers Association President Sangha: "Most of the people living here, especially from Punjab, are belonging to a minority. He’s got no sympathy here. It will backfire."