UP minister calls Mayawati 'ugly'

An Uttar Pradesh minister triggered a huge outrage after he reportedly called former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati “ugly” at a party meeting in state's Ghazipur district, about 350 km from here.

“Aap logon ne Mayawati jaisi badsurat mahila ko paanch saal jhela hai..aap logon ko party netaon ko ek ghanta ya adha ghanta baradasht karne mein samasya nahin hogi (You people have tolerated an ugly woman like Mayawati for five years. You will have no problem in tolerating us for one or half an hour), ” UP Minister for Tourism and Samajwadi Party (SP) state general secretary Om Prakash Singh said while addressing a meeting of SP workers at Zamania in the district on Wednesday evening.

The remarks triggered and outrage and angry BSP leaders demanded sacking of the minister. “This is part of SP's culture. What else can be expected from its leaders,” said senior BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya.

BSP reaction

Maurya demanded the immediate sacking of Singh from the state cabinet saying that his continuance would be a blot on the image of the government.

BSP supremo Mayawati had also once called her opponents “dog” during an election rally in 2012.

Incidentally, Singh was not the only UP minister to have made such remarks. Earlier UP minister Raja Ram Pandey had made a “sexist” remark on a woman district magistrate in his speech at an official function a few months back.

He was later sacked. The Akhilesh Yadav government has faced more embarrassment from the deeds of its ministers than others during its stint in the office so far.

A few months back, Akhilesh's uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, while speaking at a meeting of PWD officials, openly advocated graft. “You can steal a little if they work hard,” he was caught on the camera telling the officials.

Earlier, senior minister Azam Khan had embarrassed the chief minister by his outbursts, when he dubbed the cops “dalals” (middlemen). “You people sell khaki (police uniform) for money. You are dalals,” Khan had said from the dais at a function.