JD(U) extends support to Women's reservation bill

Party wishes that after it is passed women will think about quota within quota for backward classes

JD(U) on Monday extended its support to Women's reservation bill and said "it should be passed without any ifs and buts" adding that it "wishes" that after it is passed women will think about quota within quota for backward classes.

"I have come to say that from today onwards you can remove the name of JD(U) as one of the parties opposed to Women's reservation bill," JD(U) general secretary K C Tyagi said at an event organised by National Federation of Indian Women to mark two decades of Women's Reservation Bill.

Tyagi, however, also made a strong case for women from backward classes be given a quota within the Bill.

"Instead of 33 per cent reservation there should be 50 per cent...But once this Bill is passed we must sit and ponder over accommodating within that the marginalised section.

"...Women themselves are slaves in our culture. Poverty is also a kind of slavery, and so is casteism. Neither should there be a caste bias or a class bias. And, you will have to fight this battle on both these fronts.

"...On the behalf of the entire party I would like to state that we support Women's Reservation Bill. But once you have 33 per cent reservation do look towards the marginalised section, like they are standing shoulder to shoulder with you today to advocate reservation for women in Parliament," Tyagi said.

He also said that supporting the Bill without any quota will amount to political insincerity.

"We were requested by women that let us have 33 per cent reservation first (and think about sub-quota later). This is not the language of political sincerity. We say lets have 50 per cent instead of 33 per cent but what will happen to backward women?"

When he was asked whether "quota within quota" will be the pre-condition for JD(U)'s supports to women's reservation, Tyagi clarified and said it was only the party's "wish".

"It should be passed without ifs and buts. If there are any conditions then people will get an excuse to delay it. This (sub-quota) is our wish not our condition", he added.