New Delhi: Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav has played his last card to defeat the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament--he alleges the legislation is “anti-secular and anti-minority”.
Yadav on Sunday demanded that the Bill, which reserves 33 percent seats in Parliament and in state assemblies for women, should have a “sub-quota” for Dalits, Other Backward Communities (OBCs) and minorities.
He claimed that nearly half a dozen states in India do not have a single representative in the Lok Sabha from religious minorities. The Congress, by taking the Bharatiya Janata Party’s support for the Bill, had proved it was not secular, he alleged.
“The Samajwadi Party was never against the Bill in principle, but in its current form it is against minorities,” he said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad, too, has said his party will oppose the Bill in Parliament. “No country in the world has reservation for women. I don't know what example is our country trying to set. When the Bill comes to be vote we will oppose it in our capacity,” he said.
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government is certain of getting votes for the Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Of the 233 members in the Rajya Sabha, the government needs the support of 155 MPs. The government has the support of 164 MPs, with the BJP and the Left Front announcing their backing for the Bill.
In the Lok Sabha, the government needs the support of 363 MPs and it has the assured support of 410 members.
The Government’s is counting on the support of Bahujan Samaj Party on the premise that with SP opposing the Bill, BSP chief Mayawati would not want to bee seen siding with her rival in Uttar Pradesh politics.
The developments in Janata Dal (United), which has seen sharp divisions over the issue, with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressing his support to the measure has come as a godsend for the Congress.
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