Mayawati flays Cong for attack on North Indians

Lucknow, Oct 21 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today condemned the attack on North Indians by supporters of the Maharastra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and held the Congress responsible for allowing them to take the law in their own hands.

''The attack on the North Indians will certainly provoke the people to take the law in their own hands against the people of Maharastra in other parts of the country,'' she said while addressing a press conference here.

Ms Mayawati said the Congress led-Maharastra government was only indulging in 'drama' by arresting of MNS chief Raj Thackeray as it had registered 'weak' sections of the IPC against him.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo also lambasted the constituents of the UPA government at the Centre like the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and others for ''shedding crocodile tears'' over the issue. ''Had they been serious, the Centre and the Congress government of Maharastra would have not ignored the issue for the last one year,'' she added.

'' The Congress government at the Centre always threatened the non Congress governments in the state with Article 355 of the Constitution for minor reasons, but the incidents of Maharashtra make it a fit case for such Articles as the state government has failed to control the people, who are violating the Constitutional norms,'' she claimed.

Ms Mayawati also did not spared the BJP, claiming that the party had not issued any strong statement against the incident which proves that they were not concerned with such important issues.

Claiming that the attack on the North Indians in Maharastra was a direct threat to the 'unity' and 'intregrity' of the country, she demanded that the Election Commission (EC) ban the MNS immediately.

''The action against Raj Thakeray was taken just to take political mileage by the Congress before the Lok Sabha elections,'' the CM said, adding that ''why was the Congress sleeping like 'Kumbhakaran' for the last one year and ignoring the issue.'' She said that the action against the MNS would not remove the suspecion in the minds of the people and the people would teach the Congress a lesson in the coming Lok Sabha elections. ''If the Congress government does not taken any strict legal action against the MNS leaders then they will be held responsible for such incidents in the future.'' Appealing to the people of Maharastra to maintain peace, the UP CM said they should not be provoked by the activities of the MNS which was trying to create regionalism in the country.

UNI MB JAS RR SB KN1941