Police officer's job: Wipe Maya memsahab's sandals

LUCKNOW: BSP czarina and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati was on Tuesday embroiled in a fresh controversy after a police officer wiped her 'dirty' sandals with his handkerchief during her visit to the Auraiya district. The opposition was quick to slam Mayawati for this "feudalistic" act.


The incident took place on Sunday when Mayawati was visiting Naunipur village in the district. The CM was on a state-wide inspection tour, which started at the beginning of this month.


After going through the village, she returned to the helipad at around 4 PM to take the chopper back to the state capital.


The video footage being aired by TV channels shows Mayawati, apparently peeved over something, speaking to an officer who calls out for the CM's Chief Security Officer, Padam Singh.


Immediately, the DSP-rank officer Padam Singh rushed towards the chief minister and looked around for a piece of cloth. Not finding any, the President's Medal awardee, Padam Singh, took out his handkerchief and stooped to clean Mayawati's sandals. The shoe-wiping act continued for some time even as the BSP czarina spoke to the senior officers gathered around her.


Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh and Principal Secretary (Home) Kunwar Fateh Bahadur Singh were also present at the helipad.


Padam Singh, who has retired and has been granted extension by the present state government, is known to be close to the chief minister, as well as her mentor, BSP founder Kanshi Ram. He has also served Mayawati during her previous tenures and is known to be very influential in the present government. The opposition criticised Mayawati for her autocratic behaviour.


Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan said Mayawati has shown her feudalistic mentality by getting a senior officer to kneel down and clean her shoes. "She is behaving like a queen and if the sorry state of affairs continues, soon other senior officers would be forced to kneel down and do similar things" said Khan.