Lalu, Mulayam and Sharad Yadav may back the bill if the quantum of quota is slashed to around 20 instead of the proposed 33 per cent.
NEW DELHI: RJD chief and railway minister Lalu Prasad has told a women’s delegation led by CPI(M) politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP Brinda Karat, that he would not back the much-talked about women’s reservation bill in its present form.
Karat, on Thursday, had led the delegation of leading women’s organisation to plead Lalu to back the legislation after he went back on his promise, during the Left-UPA meeting of November 22, that he would support it’s tabling in the Parliament.
But Yadav declined their requests and said he is under pressure from his own party not to back the bill in its present form and that he cannot go against the wishes of party MPs.
Indications are that regional satraps such as Lalu, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sharad Yadav may back the bill if the quantum of quota is slashed to around 20 instead of the proposed 33 per cent. The CPI(M) has been pressing the UPA government to introduce the bill in its present form and Congress president Sonia Gandhi too was keen. Gandhi, however, wanted to take Lalu on board and he had agreed. But soon, other regional backward caste satraps such as JDU president Sharad Yadav counselled the railway minister against the move saying that it would only benefit the mainstream parties as regional and caste parties such as RJD, JDU, BSP and SP may not be able to find articulate backward caste women to compete with those from upper castes.
Earlier, when the United Front government tried to introduce the bill Sharad Yadav had made the controversial statement that it would only benefit “parkati” (bobbed hair) women (the so called elite section).
The women’s delegation submitted a memorandum to Lalu seeking his support for reservation. “You had assured us when we met you in May that this would be done and we would like to express our appreciation of your efforts. We would request you to do everything in your power to ensure that this Bill is passed so that democratic institutions in our country become even more representative,” the memo said. Lalu told them that he has asked union minister Pranab Mukherjee to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the bill.
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