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The Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Tuesday said her party would support any Bill that allows reservation for women in Parliament and other legislatures, even if the party’s demand for a quota for the SC, ST and OBC within that quota was not met.
Her remarks came on a day when the Centre said it was introducing a Bill in Parliament to provide one-third reservation to women in the Lok Sabha, state assemblies and the Delhi legislative assembly.
Mayawati said her party wanted women from the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes to get a separate quota in the draft legislation. But she made it clear that the BSP would support the Bill even if this demands was not met.
The Dalit leader said her party would welcome a Bill even if it provides 50 per cent reservation for women and the government should consider this.
She said the SC-ST quota for women in the Bill should be separate from the existing reservation for these categories in legislatures.
“The architect of the Constitution Dr BR Ambedkar had given reservation to people from these sections as they were socially, economically and educationally backward for centuries, and they are still backward. The reservation in government jobs and in politics is to give them respectful lives and to get rid of their backwardness. In such a situation, our party wants the women from these categories to get reservation in the Bill being brought today. If this is not done and if this Bill is passed in its current form, then the BSP will understand that the BJP and Congress party's casteist thinking have not changed and these parties want these communities to continue being backward,” Mayawati said.
The BSP chief said that her party welcomed the start of the new Parliament.
“In this new Parliament building, the Centre has presented the Women’s Reservation Bill. In support of the Bill, BSP and most other parties will vote. In such a situation, it is our party’s hope that this Women’s Reservation Bill passes after discussion. This Bill has been left pending for a long time,” she said.
The Women’s Reservation Bill, stuck for 27 years, was said to have been cleared by the Narendra Modi government reserving 33 per cent seats for women in Parliament and legislative Assemblies.
Mayawati also said that no politics should be done over the criteria for reservation under the Bill.
“It should be transparent and the Bill should be implemented in a timely manner. This is the BSP’s suggestion,” she said.