Won’t say sorry for remark against women: Mulayam Singh

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Mulayam Singh Yadav has refused to apologise for his sexist remark against women’s reservation. What’s more, he’s even gone ahead and said the remark was “deliberate”.

On Tuesday, the SP chief got brickbats for saying women’s reservation in parliament and state assemblies would only benefit high-society women, who youngsters would whistle at. This put the party on the defensive and SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhry blamed the media for twisting the statement out of context.

But Mulayam stuck to his guns. “That statement was not made by mistake, it was deliberate… I wanted those people [who support women’s quota] to feel hurt so that a nationwide debate on this issue begins,” he said.

Mulayam said he would not apologise. “Why should I apologise? In fact, I am pleased that my statement has had the desired effect and people have started talking about the pros and cons of this issue,” he remarked.

The Congress has flayed the SP chief for being “obstinate” and “retrograde”. Party spokesman Subodh Srivastava said, “Mulayam should apologise not only to women, but the entire country… his remarks are disgraceful.”

BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said he was appalled at Mulayam’s remarks, “He should apologise. This [remarks] shows his mentality is medieval and he has no respect for women.”