Lok Sabha adjourned as Yadav trio protest women’s bill

The Lok Sabha was adjourned Wednesday after Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav, Janata Dal-United’s Sharad Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Lalu Prasad staged noisy protests against the women’s reservation bill being passed in the Rajya Sabha after seven MPs were forcefully evicted.Leading other protesting MPs, the Yadav trio marched towards’s the speaker’s podium, raising slogans against the government. Speaker Meira Kumar then adjourned the house till noon.The MPs accused the government of using marshals to forcefully evict suspended seven Rajya Sabha MPs — SP’s Kamal Akhtar, Veerpal Singh Yadav, Amir Alam Khan and Nand Kishore Yadav, JD-U’s Ejaz Ali, Lok Janshakti Party’s Sabir Ali and RJD’s Subhash Prasad Yadav — to pass the women’s quota bill in the house Tuesday.The bill seeks to reserve 33 percent seats for women in parliament and state legislatures.The protesting MPs said the Lok Sabha would not be allowed to function until the Rajya Sabha revoked the suspension of their colleagues.They also raised slogans demanding quota for Muslims, Dalits and other backward castes within the reservation for women.The Trinamool Congress, the second largest constituent in the Congress-led ruling alliance that opposed the bill in the present form, however, did not join the protesters.Lok Sabha is expected to pass the bill before it takes a three-week break March 16.The divide in the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) over the women’s quota bill came to the fore once again Wednesday as only one JD-U MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lallan’ joined Sharad Yadav in the protests.The JD-U MPs had supported the legislation in the Rajya Sabha.  (WAY2ONLINE)
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