11/03/2010
New Delhi: Betraying the anxiety among MPs on how the women’s reservation Bill will play out in their constituencies, the BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha on Wednesday claimed “at least 70 per cent of MPs” were against the Bill while a senior BJP MP said he would defy any whip to vote in its favour even though his party had offered it “unequivocal support” in the Rajya Sabha.
Ramesh Bais, BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha, said there was strong resentment among Lok Sabha MPs over the Bill and his party leadership was engaged in placating MPs.
"A t least seventy per cent of MPs are protesting against the women's reservation Bill and the way the party supported the Bill despite marshals being used in Rajya Sabha. Top leaders of the party have assured that grievances of the MPs will be taken into account," Bais told The Indian Express, adding that Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha had already held the first round of discussions.
Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav, senior leader and BJP MP from Madhubani in Bihar, declared he would defy any party whip in Lok Sabha and vote against the Bill.
BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. Ramesh Bais, BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha, said that Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha had already held the first round of discussions. REUTERS
A former Union Minister, Yadav told The Indian Express: "If they issue a whip (to vote in favour of the Bill), I will break it and vote against it. Let them end my membership, I am not bothered. I am a socialist and I cannot compromise on issues of social justice." He said he had asked the BJP leadership not to issue a whip in Lok Sabha and allow MPs to exercise their choice. He also slammed the use of marshals in Rajya Sabha to evict seven MPs who were opposed to e Bill.
Yadav said the use of marshals amounted to martial law" and his party had been a "mute spectator".
"History will not spare the BJP. The BJP was like Bhishmapitamah and Dronacharya in Mahabharata who remained mute spectators to the disrobing of Draupadi," he said. Attacking the policy of his party to support the Bill, he said the party would "decline further" if it ignored the backward classes.
Senior leaders like Yashwant Sinha are engaged in placating Lok Sabha MPs as there was strong resentment among them over the Bill. REUTERS
Yogi Adityanath, MP from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, too aired his protest, wondering why the party had shown such eagerness to back the women's reservation Bill when there were more pressing matters on hand.
Madhusudan Yadav, a first-time BJP MP from Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh, too objected that the party leadership had not protested the use marshals to evict MPs from Rajya Sabha.
"The allies and supporters of UPA are protesting against the Bill. They used the support of the opposition to use marshals and bulldoze the Bill through Rajya Sabha. We will not tolerate the e of marshals in Lok Sabha," Yadav told The Indian Express.
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K.Venugopal
#1
11 March 2010 18:07:44
Women's reservation is an idea whose time has come. Reservation is not an alien word in Indian polity. It has a historical background unique to India. Political expediency, of course, often ensures that even policies with best of intentions can be perverted. With a free-for-all political robustness extant in Indian polity, reservation policies have often been turned on its head but nevertheless, they have met many of the social goals hoped for by the framers of various reservation policies. No doubt when the history of women's reservation is written, it too would have gone through roller-coaster rides of successes and disasters - but at some point of time in the future it would be said that an idea whose time had come could not have been aborted and had to see the light of the day.
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3697674&page=0
New Delhi: Betraying the anxiety among MPs on how the women’s reservation Bill will play out in their constituencies, the BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha on Wednesday claimed “at least 70 per cent of MPs” were against the Bill while a senior BJP MP said he would defy any whip to vote in its favour even though his party had offered it “unequivocal support” in the Rajya Sabha.
Ramesh Bais, BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha, said there was strong resentment among Lok Sabha MPs over the Bill and his party leadership was engaged in placating MPs.
"A t least seventy per cent of MPs are protesting against the women's reservation Bill and the way the party supported the Bill despite marshals being used in Rajya Sabha. Top leaders of the party have assured that grievances of the MPs will be taken into account," Bais told The Indian Express, adding that Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha had already held the first round of discussions.
Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav, senior leader and BJP MP from Madhubani in Bihar, declared he would defy any party whip in Lok Sabha and vote against the Bill.
BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. Ramesh Bais, BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha, said that Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha had already held the first round of discussions. REUTERS
A former Union Minister, Yadav told The Indian Express: "If they issue a whip (to vote in favour of the Bill), I will break it and vote against it. Let them end my membership, I am not bothered. I am a socialist and I cannot compromise on issues of social justice." He said he had asked the BJP leadership not to issue a whip in Lok Sabha and allow MPs to exercise their choice. He also slammed the use of marshals in Rajya Sabha to evict seven MPs who were opposed to e Bill.
Yadav said the use of marshals amounted to martial law" and his party had been a "mute spectator".
"History will not spare the BJP. The BJP was like Bhishmapitamah and Dronacharya in Mahabharata who remained mute spectators to the disrobing of Draupadi," he said. Attacking the policy of his party to support the Bill, he said the party would "decline further" if it ignored the backward classes.
Senior leaders like Yashwant Sinha are engaged in placating Lok Sabha MPs as there was strong resentment among them over the Bill. REUTERS
Yogi Adityanath, MP from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, too aired his protest, wondering why the party had shown such eagerness to back the women's reservation Bill when there were more pressing matters on hand.
Madhusudan Yadav, a first-time BJP MP from Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh, too objected that the party leadership had not protested the use marshals to evict MPs from Rajya Sabha.
"The allies and supporters of UPA are protesting against the Bill. They used the support of the opposition to use marshals and bulldoze the Bill through Rajya Sabha. We will not tolerate the e of marshals in Lok Sabha," Yadav told The Indian Express.
1-10 of 13
PreviousNext
K.Venugopal
#1
11 March 2010 18:07:44
Women's reservation is an idea whose time has come. Reservation is not an alien word in Indian polity. It has a historical background unique to India. Political expediency, of course, often ensures that even policies with best of intentions can be perverted. With a free-for-all political robustness extant in Indian polity, reservation policies have often been turned on its head but nevertheless, they have met many of the social goals hoped for by the framers of various reservation policies. No doubt when the history of women's reservation is written, it too would have gone through roller-coaster rides of successes and disasters - but at some point of time in the future it would be said that an idea whose time had come could not have been aborted and had to see the light of the day.
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3697674&page=0
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