A rival’s suggestion that India’s most powerful “Untouchable” leader should be raped so she can better understand the victims of sexual crimes has caused a political maelstrom.

The remarks were made by Rita Bahuguna Joshi, the leader of the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh, in a speech that attacked Mayawati, the Dalit, or Untouchable, chief minister of the state.

Ms Joshi criticised the award of 25,000 rupees (£310) each in compensation to several Dalit rape victims in Uttar Pradesh and said that the women should “throw the money at Mayawati’s face and tell her ‘you should also be raped and I will give you ten million rupees’ ”.

Hours later Ms Joshi was arrested, accused of promoting social enmity, insulting a woman’s modesty and insulting a person of lower caste. Her house was burnt down, allegedly by supporters of Mayawati.

Munni, a maid for Ms Joshi, said: “A group of masked men stormed into the house, raising slogans against Joshi and for Mayawati.

“They were armed with iron rods, sticks and petrol cans — several policemen were there but remained mute spectators.”

Ms Joshi was kept in judicial custody for 14 days and refused bail. She could serve ten years if found guilty.

Mayawati’s political rivals said that the decision to arrest Ms Joshi, the legitimacy of which was questioned by lawyers, was typical of the so-called Dalit Queen, a former teacher who rocked the Establishment by courting India’s most oppressed community.

The 150 million Dalits in India occupy the lowest rungs of Hinduism’s caste system but they have emerged as a key vote bank since independence.

Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the Congress party, was forced to enter the row yesterday after concerns that she risked losing crucial Dalit support. She expressed regret over the remarks by Ms Joshi, but Congress officials said that she would not dismiss her.

Activists are lamenting that the issue at the heart of the fracas — the treatment of rape victims — is being ignored.

Many campaigners believe that attitudes towards rape in India were summed up in the 1990s when a state-owned insurance company, the General Insurance Corporation, began to offer rape insurance policies, which paid out after a woman was attacked according to how badly she was injured.

Urvashi Butalia, a feminist publisher, told The Times: “The scheme laid bare three widely held assumptions: that rape was inevitable; that the legal system need not do anything; that those attacked assume the status of victimhood ... Attitudes have not changed since.”

Mayawati’s decision to have officials hand cheques to rape victims at public ceremonies was also criticised.

Kamini Jaiswal, a Supreme Court advocate, said: “Victims usually want to remain anonymous. Mayawati has brought them into the public gaze to serve political ends.”

The row is seen as a test of whether Mayawati can stage a political comeback after her party’s dismal showing in the election.

Some suggest that she sought to exploit the rape remarks to win back Dalit supporters.

“Her poor general election showing was a rude awakening for Mayawati,” Professor Zoya Hasan, of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, said.

“It showed that her brand of identity politics can not work on a national level.”

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