Jaya Bachchan hit out at the BJP during a discussion in the Rajya Sabha a day ago. (ANI)
Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan on Tuesday said that the recent Income Tax raids on some of her party colleagues were linked to the ruling BJP feeling "jittery" ahead of the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh due early next year. Mocking the fact that the raids never seemed to target any BJP leader, she told NDTV, "All of them have bathed in Ulti Ganga. All their sins have been washed. The Ganga has been dirtied."
Dismissing the government's claim that the central agencies work independently, she asked whether "we are illiterate, uneducated" to believe it.
The charge came a day after a furious Ms Bachchan lashed out at "personal" remarks made against her during a discussion on a bill in Rajya Sabha which were later expunged and tore into the BJP with a "curse" that it will "soon face bad days".
An agitated Ms Bachchan had also told the Chair that it should be fair and alleged that an attempt was being made to stifle the voice of opposition.
On Tuesday, she told NDTV about the outburst: "I was upset so I said so. It should happen. Their bad days will come very soon... I am most angry about colleagues (the 12 suspended MPs) sitting here. I really am angry. This is not justice. There is no point in expecting justice from this government. Like they had to apologise to the farmers, the government will have to apologise to these MPs one day."
Ms Bachchan's comments also happened to come a day after her daughter-in-law and actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Monday for questioning in a case linked to the 2016 'Panama Papers' leaks case involving allegations of foreign exchange violations.
Jaya Bachchan, however, made no direct remarks about the questioning of her daughter-in-law.
To a question about central agencies' action against her party leaders, she said, "They (government) are jittery. They have many instruments and are misusing them... 'Hawa badi karari hai, lal topi sab pe bhadi hai' (Wind is blowing sharply. Red cap rises above everyone else)".
Red caps are associated with the Samajwadi Party whose members often wear them in their programmes.
