By IANS
Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday sought the resignation of central Minister of State for Home Shriprakash Jaiswal and National Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission chief Buta Singh for virtually siding with farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, arrested after a two-day stand-off over his allegedly abusive remarks against her.
Training her guns on the two Congress leaders, Mayawati sought to label the party as “anti-Dalit”.
Addressing a press conference here Wednesday afternoon, she said: “It was highly regrettable that Congress MP and Union Minister of State for Home Shriprakash Jaiswal had gone to the extent of publicly opposing the arrest of Tikait, who had committed a serious violation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act, 1989.
“Considering that such a statement came from a minister entrusted with the charge of the country’s law and order, he has no moral authority to continue in that important office; he must therefore resign immediately,” Mayawati said.
Flaying Buta Singh for his silence on the issue, she said: “It was a matter of bigger shame that the head of the National Commission for Schedules Castes and Scheduled Tribes had failed to even react to such blatant violation of the Act.”
She accused the past governments of being ineffective in enforcing the law aimed at protection of Dalits.
“It was the weakness of various governments to effectively enforce the law that had prompted an ordinary man like Mahendra Singh Tikait to publicly make derogatory remarks against someone from the downtrodden section of society who has risen to the position of Uttar Pradesh chief minister,” she added.
Making it clear that she will not condone any violation of the law, Mayawati praised her officials for the successful ‘Operation Tikait’.
“My officials have done a commendable job by ensuring Tikait’s arrest without allowing the situation to go out of hand,” she said.
Explaining the delay in the farmer leader’s arrest, the chief minister said: “Tikait could have been arrested on the very day he made those remarks, but I instructed my officials to keep their calm and maintain balance.”
Tikait, the 73-year-old Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief, was arrested from his house in Muzaffarnagar for the allegedly casteist remarks against Mayawati. A warrant against him was issued Monday, but a large contingent of police force could do little as he remained surrounded by his supporters.