New Delhi: The government will face a united
opposition if there was further "dilly dallying" in carrying
out caste Census and JD(U) will continue to oppose the Women`s
Reservation Bill in its present form in Parliament, party
chief Sharad Yadav said on Sunday.
Lashing out at the Centre for "dilly dallying" the
decision over including caste in the Census, Yadav said,
"There was complete unanimity over the inclusion of caste in
the Census both in NDA and the UPA. Except its one or two
members, even Congress as a whole had supported the idea. Now
if they give excuses for delaying it, it will not be
tolerated."
"The recent decision of the Group of Ministers (GoM),
constituted to go into the issue, to write letters to all
parties on it, raises doubts that the government wants to just
delay it," he said in an interview with just over a
fortnight to go for the Monsoon Session to begin.
Yadav had a few days back shot off a letter to Mukherjee
ruing that the government is dragging its feet over the issue.
"First of all it did not take up the issue of caste
Census during many Cabinet meetings. After wasting some weeks,
it took up the issue and decided to form a GoM, which was
unwarranted. Again the GoM did not act swiftly. After wasting
many days, the GoM decided to seek from the political parties
their views in writing on the issue. This is yet another
delaying tactics of the government," Yadav said in the letter.
On the Women`s Bill issue he said, "There is no question
of supporting the Women`s Bill in its present form in the
upcoming Monsoon Session. Our opposition to it is not new. We
are opposing it openly. The majority of leaders in all
parties, including Congress, do not want it but they cannot
express it publicly."
It`s not a question of NDA or UPA. If parties issue no
whip on it, the Bill will fall flat... with no support from
any quarter," Yadav said.
He recalled that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had
assured him and others opposing the Bill in its present form
that a decision on it will be taken only after an all
party meeting.
Asked what will be the reaction of the opponents of the
Bill if it is brought before Lok Sabha in this session, Yadav
said, "How can they pass the Bill like this? This will evoke a
stronger opposition in Lok Sabha. It is not Rajya Sabha where
they can marshal out members and pass the Bill as they did
on March 9."
Yadav downplayed the `differences` that had surfaced in
the JD(U) when the Women`s Bill was passed in the Upper House,
in which the majority of its party members had supported the
Bill after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar`s statement in
favour of it, saying "the party MPs in Lok Sabha had opposed
it”.
In the Lower House, Mualyam Singh Yadav led Samajwadi
Party and Lalu Prasad led RJD had joined the JD(U) chief in
vociferously opposing the Bill and even staged walk outs over
the issue.
"We are not against reservation to women but it should be
for those really deserving it like the poor, the downtrodden
and not the chosen few from the metros who do not require
it at all," Yadav said.
PTI
