BSP supremo Mayawati questioned Congress President Sonia Gandhi's "silence" over the UPCC President Rita Bahuguna Joshi's alleged derogatory statement against her and alleged that it was done at the instruction of Congress High Command.

"The most painful thing is that Sonia Gandhi has remained silent over the issue. She has neither condemned this humiliating, uncivilised and derogatory statement nor has she taken any action against her at the party level. This clearly shows that the humiliating statement by Joshi was made at the instance of Congress High Command," the UP Chief Minister said at a press conference adding the comments were "not at all pardonable".

Denying that her party workers were involved in the attack on Joshi's house in Lucknow, Mayawati said, "there is a doubt of the hand of Congress itself in the incident".

The government has ordered an impartial enquiry into the incident, she said.

She also sought to put Congress in the dock over the SC/ST act saying the provision of compensation for rape and murder victims of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was made by the Congress government at the Centre and not the BSP government.

The BSP chief said if her party comes to power at the Centre it would repeal the existing SC/ST law and will bring a new law which covers women victims of all sections and ensures stringent punishment like death sentence or life imprisonment to perpetrators.

Maintaining that her party does not agree with the existing Act's provision for monetary compensation, she said that it hurt the sentiments of Dalits but added that the states had to follow the provisions of a central law.

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