Introduction of women's Bill
AIADMK for
OBCs quota
NEW DELHI, Dec 13 (PTI,
UNI) — The AIADMK, an ally of the BJP-led coalition
at the Centre, today proposed a quota for other backward
classes (OBCs) in the Women’s Reservation Bill,
giving a new twist to the controversy over the
legislation.
Even while proposing the
quota, the party declared its firm support to the
introduction of the Bill in Parliament at the earliest
and attacked the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata
Dal for adopting "devious" means to
"scuttle" it.
AIADMK leader and Union
Surface Transport Minister M. Thambi Durai said his party
would move an amendment seeking a quota for the OBCs in
the Bill after its introduction in the Lok Sabha.
Meanwhile, a report from
Chennai said AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalitha
alleged that attempts were being made to stall the
Women’s Reservation Bill and urged Lok Sabha Speaker
G.M.C. Balayogi to "exercise his right" to
ensure its smooth introduction and passage tomorrow.
Expressing unhappiness at
the situation in the House on Friday over the issue, Ms
Jayalalitha in a statement here criticised the Speaker
for not exercising his right and asked what prevented him
from evicting members bent upon creating trouble and
taking up the unfinished business of the House.
The action of the
opponents of the Bill who rushed to the Speaker’s
podium and made threatening gestures could only be
construed as a conspiracy to block the Bill, she said.
It would be an injustice
to women if the Bill was scuttled by allowing any melee
in the House, she added.
In Baroda, the Union Home
Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, said that the women’s Bill
would be introduced in Parliament in its original form,
as agreed to by leaders of various parties.
Mr Advani was commenting
on a statement made by former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A.
Sangma that the Congress would consider its support to
the Bill in an amended form.
In Lucknow, Rashtriya
Loktantrik Morcha (RLM) president Mulayam Singh Yadav
said there was a tacit understanding between the Vajpayee
Government and the Congress on the passage of the
women’s Bill in Parliament in its present form and
said the morcha would oppose it.
He told reporters that the
BJP had agreed to give the post of Deputy Speaker in the
Lok Sabha to the Congress and the two parties were now
bent upon clearing the Bill.
"The two parties have
a tacit understanding to get the Bill passed in the Lok
Sabha and to keep women belonging to the minorities, the
backwards classes and the weaker sections of society away
from Parliament and legislatures in the name of
reservation," Mr Yadav said.
The RLM and other parties
opposing the introduction of the Bill in its present form
would "do their best" to prevent the
introduction of the Bill on Monday, he said.
"However, if the Bill
was passed, it would be the Congress which would be
blamed for this," Mr Yadav remarked.
Referring to the provision
of 33 per cent reservation for women, Mr Yadav said no
country in a democratic set-up had this provision.
While there was no such
provision in the USA and the UK, South Africa had 10 per
cent reservation for women.
"Our party has always
been demanding 10 per cent reservation for women and
wanted that its present form should have a separate
provision for the minorities, the backward classes and
other weaker sections of the society," he said.
|
