By IANS,
New Delhi : Adopting an aggressive stand in his opposition to the Women’s Reservation Bill, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief Sharad Yadav Friday threatened he would “consume poison” in parliament if it was passed in its present form.
“If the Women’s Reservation Bill is passed I will consume poison and die here but not allow the passage of bill,” he said in the Lok Sabha.
Yadav, who was participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the president’s address to the joint session of parliament, also accused the Congress of indulging in “tokenism” over the issue.
“A woman speaker and (a woman) president is nothing but tokenism by the Congress party. I am not against reservation as such but the issue of caste has to be addressed first,” he said.
He also pointed out that the real need was to liberate women who belong to the backward and most backward classes.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has promised early passage of the bill providing for one-third reservation to women in state legislatures and in parliament and said this was one of the priorities of his government in the next 100 days.
The bill, conceived in the mid-1990s, has been delayed due to opposition from Sharad Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.