Patna, March 14: RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday upped the ante on the Women’s Reservation Bill by telling a public meeting at Chapra, his Lok Sabha constituency, that the bill would have to be passed, if at all, only “over my dead body”.

Mr Yadav, well known for his ability to whip up public sentiments, used one of his favourite political tricks almost bordering on emotional blackmail when he told a large crowd in Chapra: “I will oppose this anti-minority, anti-backward caste bill till my last breath. If it still gets passed in the Lok Sabha, it will have to be over my dead body”.
Later, speaking exclusively to this newspaper, Mr Yadav said: “I have said what I mean. I will never allow the passage of this bill as long as I am alive. Some parties cannot get together to snatch the rights of socio-economically disadvantaged communities with the vague aim of women’s empowerment”.
With these remarks, the RJD chief has almost set the tone for his party’s electoral campaign for the Bihar Assembly elections at the end of this year, and also given a possible indication of how his party members might react if and when the bill comes up in the Lok Sabha.
Bihar’s ruling JD(U), well aware of the potential consequences of Mr Yadav drumming up a frenzy on the bill’s supposed socio-economic effects, criticised his statement and described him as the “biggest usurper of the rights of minorities and backward castes”. JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP and party spokesman Shivanand Tiwary said at a press conference on Sunday that the RJD had never cared to give enough representation to these communities while fielding its candidates in elections.
Mr Yadav, told about the JD(U)’s charge, responded: “They (JD-U leaders) are lying and choosing selectively to attack my party. Shivanand Tiwary used to be with the RJD and was even a minister in our government, but the lure of power took him to the JD(U). Attacking me this way cannot change people’s perceptions”.
 

Anand S.T. Das