New Delhi:
"Don't play games with the court. Don't behave like you do with your political opponents in the Assembly" - the fury of the Supreme Court unleashed on Monday upon Mayawati over her memorial parks and statues.
The issue at hand: whether Mayawati has defied the court's earlier orders to continue building the parks she describes as memorials to Dalit leaders, including herself.
Last month, the court said all construction should be suspended while it reviews how these parks and statues are being funded. Four days later, media reports, including one by NDTV, showed that order had been ignored.
When asked for an explanation, Mayawati's officials stated in an affidavit that they had not meant to defy the court, and that any new construction was being done only at areas not under dispute in court.
But even as her government apologized to the court for any misunderstanding, an unrepentant Mayawati used a public rally in Uttar Pradesh to warn that preventing the construction of her parks would lead to violence.
On Monday, the court has said to her, "The undertaking given by you was an eyewash lacking sincerity. You seem to take this court as an adversary, that's the impression created."
Mayawati's parks are expected to cost the state government more than Rs 2,000 crores. She has argued that the UP assembly has sanctioned this expenditure.
The court has questioned this in earlier hearings. The Uttar Pradesh government will defend its stand in court again on Tuesday.