Mulayam calls women's bill names, booed

New Delhi/ Lucknow: Politicians are outraged at Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's statement that the women's reservation bill would lead to them being harassed in legislatures.

Yadav has said the bill would lead to more women in Parliament and state assemblies, leading youths to whistle at them. "I don't like to say this, but they would be the women at whom youths would whistle," said Yadav in Lucknow on Tuesday.

"Once the bill comes into force, not a single male would be elected to the Lok Sabha after 10 years as elected women would not leave their seats, nor the political parties would be in a position to replace them," he said.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Brinda Karat said Yadav’s statement proved that his arguments against the bill were “illogical”.

“His stooping to this low level only shows that there is no logic to his opposition to the women's reservation bill. He has been a former union minister, a former chief minister. His remark is really unfortunate,” said Karat, a CPI-M Rajya Sabha member.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which walked out from the Rajya Sabha when it came up for voting, said Yadav’s statements reflected his "cheap and sick mentality."

"The BSP strongly condemns irresponsible statement given by the SP chief that only women and girls of affluent class would get benefit of the women's reservation and youths would pass comment on them," BSP state President Swami Prasad Maurya said here.

"Such a childish statement is unbecoming of a person, who had been the chief minister of the state and had been a Union Minister," he said.

Advocating reservation for women within political parties instead, Yadav said it should be made mandatory for them to give 15 per cent tickets to women.

"If this limit is increased by few more per cent we have no objection over it," he said and termed the legislation passed in the Rajya Sabha as "an international conspiracy to ensure that not a single male member enters the Lok Sabha."

Yadav says instead of reserving seats for women, it should be made mandatory for parties to give 15 per cent of their election tickets to women.

"If this limit is increased by few more per cent we have no objection over it," he said and termed the legislation passed in the Rajya Sabha as "an international conspiracy to ensure that not a single male member enters the Lok Sabha."