Mayawati slams WikiLeaks report

Leaked US diplomatic cables paint the Uttar Pradesh chief minister as an "egomaniac"

PTI | September 6, 2011



Chief minister Mayawati wants WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be put in a "mental asylum" because she is upset over leaked US diplomatic cables that painted her as an "egomaniac."

The leaked US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks last week described how the BSP supremo once allegedly dispatched her empty private jet to fetch her favourite sandals from Mumbai. Mayawati had food tasters to sample her meals and a "security entourage to rival a head of state", it claimed.

The cables quoting an aide of the Uttar Pradesh chief minister also said she was a person with a "penchant for personal corruption" and "a strong authoritarian streak".

"I would request the government of his country to send him (Assange) to a mental asylum and if they have no place for him in his country we can put him in our Agra mental hospital", Mayawati told reporters on Tuesday.

Going ballistic against Asssange, an enraged Mayawati rejected as baseless the allegations against her in the cables, saying the "WikiLeaks owner" has gone "mad" or either playing into the hands of her political opponents.

"They are wrong, mischievous and derogatory and an effort to damage the image of the government. I condemn them.

"This is a conspiracy to defame the honest party workers and to create an environment of distrust within the party," she said.

The chief minister also criticised those indulging in "dirty politics" and a section of the media for showing "one sided report" without taking the reaction of the government.

"This is indicative of their anti-Dalit mentality, she said,"

On the allegations regarding sandals, she said, "I have no information when the plane was sent to Mumbai for bringing sandals as has been stated by a BJP leader (Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi) and it looks that he and the Wikileaks owner had also gone in the same plane."

About two of her close aides-cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh and party national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra-finding mention in the cables, Mayawati stood by them and said from now on they would be given more importance.

"If there is an attempt to defame officials who are honest and have a clean image besides dedicated partymen, I would give them more importance from now on," she added.

Asking her party workers to remain vigilant with regard to "this kind of canard", Mayawati said with the assembly elections approaching these "dramas" would go on.

To a question whether she would take legal recourse in this regard, Mayawati said that if any decision is taken in this regard, the media would be informed about it.

Mayawati also took the opportunity to attack Naqvi without naming him for his remarks on the report.

"I had not seen the kind of elation he showed while highlighting WikiLeaks to defame the BSP even when he was elected to the Rajya Sabha", she said, adding that it looked as if he was a "partner" in the WikiLeaks report

Naqvi said Mayawati's attacks on the Wikileaks report ahowed her "arrogance" which was indicative of her frustration.

Mishra on his part dismissed the WikiLeaks cables as "lies and absolutely false" and said they were a conspiracy against the ruling party ahead of the UP assembly polls due next year. He threatened to take legal action.

"I have not met any US official, ambassador or foreign dignitary in May 2007. So, whatever has been printed, it is absolutely wrong and false," he said, adding, "There is definitely some conspiracy behind it because a 2007 event is being talked about ahead of the 2012 UP assembly polls".

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