Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav said on Friday that his party could consider supporting the women’s reservation bill if women belonging to dalit, Muslim and OBC groups are taken care of.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function, Mr Yadav said, “I have opposed the bill earlier but we can think about supporting it if dalits, Muslims and backward class are taken care of in it.” He said that women still remained suppressed in society and he wanted the suppressed section to work shoulder to shoulder with men.
The Samajwadi president, at a meeting in Barabanki on Thursday, had said that the proposed women’s reservation bill would benefit only women belonging to affluent families and those belonging to weaker sections would remain suppressed.
It may be recalled that the bill proposing 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, was passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010 but has been pending with the Lok Sabha after SP, RJD and JD(U) opposed it. Mr Yadav further said that he would discuss security arrangements along the Indian borders with the Prime Minister because there was an increasing threat to the borders.
“The borders of the country are unsafe and the threat is increasing but neither the media nor the centre seems serious about it. I will talk about it to the Prime Minister and discuss the issue. Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah had given statement about presence of Chinese Army in Kashmir but the media did not give importance to it,” he said.