Consensus on Women146;s Bill: Dump it

At the end of a 90-minute meeting called by Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi on the contentious issue of women8217;s reservation in legislat...

At the end of a 90-minute meeting called by Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi on the contentious issue of women8217;s reservation in legislatures, the only 8216;8216;consensus8217;8217; that political leaders appeared to arrive at today was to dump the Women8217;s Reservation Bill in its current form. Several alternative proposals were discussed including the idea of double-member constituencies, but consensus on a possible alternative remained elusive.

Today8217;s meeting at the Speaker8217;s chamber was confined to the leaders of four 8216;major8217; parties 8212; V.K. Malhotra BJP, Shivraj Patil Cong, Somnath Chatterjee CPI-M and Mulayam Singh Yadav SP. At the end of the meeting, it was decided that a draft on the 8216;8216;agreed proposals8217;8217; would be sent to the Prime Minister for consideration. The aim, Malhotra said, was to bring a legislation which could be passed through consensus 8212; a criteria the current Bill has failed to fulfill.

Mulayam8217;s 8216;affair8217;

New Delhi: Elaborating on his well-known opposition to the Women8217;s Reservation Bill, Mulayam Singh Yadav told reporters today that it did not stem from any anti-women bias but because constitutional reservation of one-third seats and rotation of these seats would drive a wedge between a sitting MP and his beloved electorate. 8216;8216;The Bill in its current form is a conspiracy to unseat MPs from the constituencies they have served for long,8217;8217; Yadav said. He went on to say that the relationship between an MP and the voters who elected him was 8216;8216;as intimate as that between lovers.8217;8217; To uproot an MP from his long-held seat was as cruel as separating a lover from his beloved, he said, using the romantic analogy more than once in his emotional discourse.

Although Malhotra gave the impression that consensus had been arrived at on the double-member proposal 8212; i.e convert one-third of constituencies to double-member seats that would elect a man and woman each 8212; other leaders indicated that this was not the case.

Mulayam Singh Yadav, who along with Laloo Prasad Yadav and Sharad Yadav, has consistently opposed the Bill since it was first introduced in 1996, told reporters that the Election Commission8217;s proposal making it mandatory for political parties to reserve tickets for women was the best option. Instead of reserving fixed constituencies for women, it should be left to parties to give more tickets to them, he said. But even here, he was against a quota of 33 per cent. 8216;8216;I was earlier for 10 per cent and now I have come up to 15 per cent and we are ready to go up to 20 per cent if necessary. But not more than that,8217;8217; he said.

Shivraj Patil was reluctant to divulge the details of the discussions but ruled out his party8217;s support for the Mulayam-backed EC proposal.

He said if it was left to parties to field 8216;8216;lady candidates8217;8217; in particular seats, then the opposition would field stronger male candidates and get the 8216;8216;ladies8217;8217; defeated. When pointed out that Indira Gandhi, Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee and Jayalalitha had defeated male candidates, he said they were exceptions.

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Patil also hinted that the Congress was not averse to the idea of double-member consituencies or increasing the size of the House in order to meet twin objectives 8212; 33 per cent women representation and no reduction in the existing number of 8220;general8221; non-reserved seats.

On logistical problems arising from a one-third hike in membership, Patil said this was a minor issue 8212; if necessary, the Lok Sabha could shift to the Central Hall and the Rajya Sabha to the Lok Sabha.