Mayawati accuses govt of anti-dalit mentality in diplomat row

Bahujan Samajwadi Party chief Mayawati on Wednesday alleged the government of being ‘anti-Dalit’ on their approach in the Devyani Khobragade row. She said the government had been dragging its feet in the diplomat matter just because she belongs to a Scheduled Caste.

Speaking inside the Parliament, Mayawati said, “Whatever has happened with a Dalit lady in the US, we cannot ignore it. But it has also unmasked the Centre’s anti-Dalit mentality. Had it been any other woman, the government would have taken some major action by now. But it has been many days since the incident happened and the government is yet to initiate any concrete step. What the government is doing is not clear yet. It seems the Centre is not serious on the issue. This is an important national issue”.

Khobragade, one of India’s senior diplomats in New York, was charged last week with visa fraud and making false statements. She was accused by Manhattan’s Indian American US Attorney Preet Bharara of visa fraud and exploiting her babysitter and housekeeper. She was handcuffed in public by law enforcement authorities in New York while she was dropping her daughter at school.

India has termed the treatment meted out to the envoy as “absolutely unacceptable”. US Ambassador Nancy Powell was summoned to South Block by Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh on Dec 13 and a strong protest was lodged over the treatment.

There was indignation in both houses of the parliament over the matter, and lawmakers cutting across party lines asked for tough disciplinary action on part of the government, and an apology from the US. This is still understandable but what Mayawati has done is beyond everybody’s understanding. She just cannot stop herself from playing her evergreen but boring Dalit card in every situation.

 Somebody please tell her this is the worst way of doing vote bank politics. Ill-treatment meted to Devyani is ill-treatment for India and not just Dalits and throwing the Dalit card at such a time is really disgraceful.