LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Saturday justified the use of the National Security Act (NSA) to jail Varun Gandhi, saying his actions were unpardonable, and warned that anyone indulging in similar acts would get the same treatment in her state. She also took on Maneka Gandhi, saying she should have brought up her son better.

Addressing a press conference here, Mayawati said her government’s decision to use the stringent NSA against Varun was ‘fully justified’.

‘I am fully justified in taking the most stern action against him because what he did was unpardonable, and anyone indulging in such acts, no matter how high and mighty, would receive the same treatment in my regime and will not be spared under any circumstances,’ the chief minister said.

Varun Gandhi, the BJP’s Pilibhit candidate, is in Etah jail following campaign speeches that spouted hatred and abusive language against Muslims. He has claimed that the speeches that have been widely aired on TV were doctored.

Mayawati tore into Maneka Gandhi for her remarks that only a mother could understand her feelings.

Terming Maneka Gandhi’s remarks ‘insinuating’, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief said: ‘Let me tell Maneka that even Mother Teresa did not have children but understood the feelings of millions of children.’ Mayawati is unmarried.

‘Rather than teaching her son some manners and telling him how to behave, she is going about defending him, which is condemnable.’

Mayawati demanded Maneka Gandhi seek pardon from her and the entire country for her remarks.

Citing rules of the jail administration, the authorities had Friday asked Maneka to not meet her son Varun in jail. Following this, Maneka had reportedly said that if Mayawati had been a mother she would have understand a mother’s pain.

‘I want to say that Maneka is mother of one (Varun), while I take care of hundreds and understand the pain of crores of mothers,’ Mayawati said.