Mayawati says BSP will support women's reservation bill

BSP supremo Mayawati on Tuesday said her party will 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 is not met.

Her remarks to the media came on a day the Centre said it is introducing a bill in Parliament to provide one-third reservation to women in the Lok Sabha, state assemblies and the Delhi legislative assembly.

The Bahujan Samaj Party leader 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 will support the bill even if this demands is not met.

The Dalit leader said her party will 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.

Making a strong push for a quota within the quota, she said women from the SC, ST and OBC will not get proper representation if this is not done.

If this demand is not met, the BSP will think that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have a casteist mentality and don't want these communities to grow.