Former Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi on Friday raised concerns over certain forces "weaponising" caste and religion to destablise the country and said the new statue of 'Lady Justice' in the Supreme Court should have been given multiple hands holding weapons to deal with the prevailing situation.

Lekhi's remarks came days after the Supreme Court got a new 'Lady Justice' -- a six-foot-tall sculpture in the judges' library holding scales in one hand and the Constitution in the other sans the sword.

Dressed in traditional white attire, the 'Goddess of Justice' is seen without her archetypal blindfold and sword, and bears a crown on her head.

Speaking at the Chanakaya Defence Dialogue 2024 here, Lekhi said, “There is a raging controversy over the new statue. While some people are saying it was an unilateral decision, I would call it all interpretation." Lekhi, who herself is a lawyer, also said the old statue did not reflect the concept of 'Nyay Devi' (goddess of justice) or ‘Nyay’ (justice) from the Indian perspective.

“So, one can debate that the latest development is positive. I would go to the extent of saying that instead of changing it, we could have blindfolded its one eye… We could have also retained the sword," she said.

“We are used to 'Devis' with multiple arms. So, we could have given the new statue multiple arms and weaponised her further to deal with all the weaponisation taking place in the society,” Lekhi said, adding on a lighter vein, “We may have given her a mobile phone and internet as well to handle that.” Addressing the gathering, the former Union minister also launched a veiled attack at Canada over its tacit support for Khalistani extremists, saying it is called “state-sponsored terrorism” if a country’s soil is used for carrying out terror activities in another country.

Stating that there can’t be a good or a bad terrorist, Lekhi said, “You can say my terrorist is a good terrorist and is a Khalistani… But there is no Khalistan happening in India. If Khalistan is happening elsewhere, it needs to be dealt with. Your soil is being used for creating terror in another country which is called state-sponsored terrorism in modern day terminology." If a person is operating from some other country to destablise India, that person continues to be a terrorist, she asserted.

“The duplicity of talking about international peace agencies and at the same time protecting terrorists cannot be tolerated," Lekhi added.

Speaking on the internal security challenges facing the country, Lekhi said, “Caste, religion, colour or gender, anything you think of can be weaponised, and that’s what the law enforcement agencies are battling with.

She also said the war is not just happening on the borders, but also within the social system with its "ultimate control" being the objective.

To deal with that, the law enforcement agencies are "virtually doing or supposed to be doing the same job as our security forces on the borders", she said.

Lekhi also said that “political interferences” are posing challenges to law enforcement, “leading to destablising a nation, and impeding the concept of justice”.

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