Exclusive: Kamal Nath has never allowed me to sit on chairs, says Imarti Devi

BJP candidate in the Madhya Pradesh bypoll and the target of former chief minister Kamal Nath's "item" jibe responded by stating that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi should dismiss such leaders and the latter should be "taught a lesson." Imarti further alleged that Kamal Nath never allowed her to sit on the chair as she belongs to a schedule.

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh): An unsavoury remark on a woman BJP Minister by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress leader Kamal Nath has kicked a political storm in the central state where crucial bypolls are approaching.

During a campaign rally in Gwalior's Dabra constituency on Sunday, Kamal Nath, without mentioning Cabinet Minister Imarti Devi's name, said: "Our candidates are straightforward in nature, not like her, what is her name (the crowd replied 'Imarti Devi')... why should I even take her name? What an item!"

Imarti Devi, who was earlier in the Congress, is now a Cabinet Minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh government.

Speaking exclusively to ETV Bharat, Devi slammed the former MP CM and said she was made a cabinet minister in the Congress government at the behest of Jyotiraditya Scindia and not due to Kamal Nath.

"Is it my fault that I am poor and born into a Scheduled Caste (SC) family? I want to request Sonia Gandhi not to keep people like Kamal Nath in Congress. If Kamal Nath uses such a language against me then what will happen to women of SC community. How can any woman move forward?", said Devi to ETV Bharat.

Reporter: What kind of preparations do you have for your by-election?

Imarti Devi: The preparation will be visible among the public here. The people of Dabra assembly constituency themselves have been preparing me since the last four times and it is the people who ensure my victory in the elections, I contest elections because I have full confidence in the people here. I have full faith in the people who previously ensured my victory with 62 thousand votes, and will now see me victorious with thumping 80 thousand votes.

Reporter: - Kamal Nath had passed an inappropriate comment on you, how do you see it?

Imarti Devi:: He is a very senior and respected leader. He can say anything to any Harijan woman, SC woman. He does not care to which caste this woman belongs to, which society she represents, and that she comes from a poor house. That is why he said such a thing. SC community is grass or garbage for Kamal Nath. Imarti Devi too is grass or garbage for him. He does not know how to respect. I have been with him for a year and a half and seen his nature. He never allowed me to sit on the chair. This means that he would stand when I went to his office. I could never sit on a chair in his office. He did not ask me to sit. He considered me a weed or garbage. I am an SC woman, daughter of a poor man, a daughter of a labourer, I am also the daughter-in-law of a labourer, and if I belong to a humble house, then they think that why should such women move ahead in life.

Reporter: The way indecent remarks are being passed constantly on women. So how dignity in politics should be maintained when it is constantly being violated?

Imarti Devi:: If you look at Kamal Nath, he is a leader, he was the Chief Minister for one and a half years, God gave him a chance to become Chief Minister for one and a half years, now I wish that Bajrang Bali should not let him be in any position. Bajrang Bali will mix him with dust, he may claim to be the devotee of Lord Bajrangbali, but the true devotee is Imarti Devi. Yesterday they treated me with such indecent behaviour. He has made fun of a Harijan woman. Bajrang Bali will never let them get away with this. Nath should be dismissed from his party. This is my request to Sonia Gandhi who is also a mother and hence should understand my pain. Do not keep Kamal Nath in Party with such behaviour that he can speak anything to any woman and he takes photographs along with women by placing their hands on their waist. He looks at heroines inappropriately. By keeping such a man in the Congress Party, it will be annihilated by keeping such a former Chief Minister.

Reporter: Yesterday, they said that women are valued and respected in the Congress Party. But since Imarti Devi's departure to the BJP, she has lost her importance there.

Imarti Devi: They have heard themselves from the statement made by the former Congress Chief Minister yesterday that how much he values women. He laughed making fun of me. They should be ashamed, they also must be having daughters, daughters-in-law, and wives at home. If someone says something like this to their wife, daughter, will they bear it? I am an SC woman, I have tolerated enough. What I will be doing now, Kamal Nath will not be able to handle. If my own party does now book him under the SC Act, then I will sit on dharna from tomorrow.

Reporter: Talking about the 2018 elections, AAP came second. You got the most votes, but what to expect this time?

Imarti Devi: In Madhya Pradesh, I will be on number one position this time, I will win with the maximum number of votes, I have full faith in my people and after been insulted yesterday, my SC community is watching, respected sister Mayawati has heard my grief, and she has also told the media that it is not the right thing to insult an SC woman.