Send Assange to mental asylum: Mayawati,slams WikiLeaks report

Lucknow, Sept 6: 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 today.

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.

PTI