Lucknow, July 17 (Inditop.com) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati said Friday that jailed state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi might get bail now, but she “will definitely get punished” for making “unpardonable” remarks against her.
“Joshi’s act was unpardonable and the law will take its course. Like Varun Gandhi (of Bharatiya Janata Party), she may also get bail. But I am sure that sooner or later she will definitely get punished,” Mayawati told reporters here.
The chief minister also said that it was she who prevented her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) workers across the country from “reacting violently” to Joshi’s widely condemned remarks.
Joshi, the Uttar Pradesh Congress president, was arrested Wednesday and jailed for giving a speech against Mayawati that the chief minister said was insulting to her as a woman and a Dalit. She was charged under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
A mob shouting pro-Mayawati slogans later attacked and torched Joshi’s house in Lucknow. The BSP denied its involvement in the arson.
“I can assure you that if my party members had come out on the streets across the country to express their anger against (Rita Bahuguna Joshi), there would have been anarchy everywhere,” the chief minister said.
“If I had not restrained my party members from reacting violently to Joshi’s remarks, the entire country would have been on the boil. The Congress should be grateful to me for that.
“I can tell you for sure that but for me, the law and order situation would have worsened to a stage where the central government would have been compelled to impose President’s Rule in all states,” she added.
Thanking all political parties for condemning Joshi’s remarks, Mayawati said: “I was surprised that initially Congress president Sonia Gandhi did not tender an apology. It was only on second thoughts, after she realised that many MPs had disapproved of Joshi’s remarks, that Sonia expressed her regret.”
“I do not mind healthy criticism but use of unparliamentary, obscene and derogatory remarks cannot be condoned,” she said. “It is high time the Congress party realises that and tells its leaders and workers to behave.”