A day after his reported threat to consume poison if the Women's Reservation Bill was passed, Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav Saturday turned around to say that his party in fact favours 50 per cent reservation for women instead of 33 per cent in the Bill, but only wants a quota within this quota for SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities.
Claiming he had not said he would take poison, he said, "I had taken the name of Socrates. He (the Greek philosopher) was not the one to consume poison himself. He was given poison for speaking the truth. I am a fighter and I will not give up."
"What I said (in Lok Sabha yesterday) should have been understood in its spirit," Yadav, a long-time opponent of the bill, said adding one should not go merely by words.
Participating in the discussion on the motion of thanks to the President's address in the Lok Sabha yesterday, he had said, "I will consume poison and die here but not allow the passage of the women's reservation Bill." He had referred to Greek philosopher Socrates who was forced to consume poison or compromise on his view. He preferred poison.
Speaking to journalists on Saturday, Yadav said, "Some newspapers carried my statement in the right context while others misquoted me." "We are not against the quota for women in Indian legislatures. But our demand is that those should be empowered first who are the most impoverished," he said.
"The Women's Reservation Bill in its present form will empower only those women who are already powerful," he said.
"In Bihar our government has implemented quota for women and not one-third but half the local body seats have been reserved for women… We want the Bihar formula to be adopted at the Centre," Yadav added, saying "it is unjust to give just one-third seats to women who constitute 50 per cent of the population".
As in Bihar, the Bill should provide for quota within quota to ensure representation of women belonging to SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities and all farming communities as women of these groups are "the most impoverished" and need affirmative action, Yadav said. "Unfortunately, the Bill in the present form will empower the women belonging to the elite class of society," he said.
The bill should mirror the Indian society, he said and reiterated that his party would oppose the Bill in its present form.
