Mulayam justifies sexist comment on Women's Bill

Under attack for his controversial comment on the Women's Reservation Bill, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday justified his remark, that a separate quota for women would help only those belonging to elite families, whom 'youths would whistle at'.

At a meeting of party workers at the SP headquarters in Lucknow, Yadav asserted that his statement was not a slip of tongue but was made after evaluating all aspects, to initiate a debate on the issue.

The SP chief had drawn flak from women's groups and political parties for his remark that only women belonging to affluent classes, including those from families of  industrialists and bureaucrats, would get the benefit of the bill.

"I don't like to say this, but they would be the women youth would whistle at," Yadav had said on Tuesday at a function to mark Ram Manohar Lohia's birth centenary.