That Mulayam Singh Yadav is opposed to Women’s Reservation Bill is not new. In 2010, he vociferously opposed the Bill saying if passed it would fill parliament with women who invite catcalls and whistles. His comment invited criticism from all parties and they sought his apology for insulting the fair sex. It’s 2012 now, and the leader seems to have undergone a change of heart. His stand on reservation has softened and he believes if the bill serves the "interests and welfare of dalits, Muslims and other backward classes”.

He would support it, he said, but words betrayed him once again.

While addressing a rally in Barabanki (Uttar Pradesh), MSY said, "Bade bade gharon ki ladkiya aur mahilayan kewal upar ja sakti hain...yaad rakhna...apko mauka nahi milega..hamare gaon ki mahila mein akarshan itna nahin...," (Only girls and women from affluent class can go forward...remember this..you (rural women) will not get a chance...Our rural women do not have that much attraction).” He has been accused of making a sexist remark but the purport of his message was perhaps lost in translation. What he perhaps meant was that rural women lack ‘political attraction’ (felicity, extroversion and other such qualities required of a politically active woman) and not attraction in a gender-sensitive sense.

Even if put right, does the Yadav satrap mean what he says? MSY leads by example. Actors Jaya Bachchan, Jaya Prada and MSY’s own daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav are all attractive women. So, seen in the light of the party’s choice of candidates, MSY means what he said!

Going by MSY’s good intent, the theory that the proposed 33 percent reservation will benefit only the affluent class and further suppress the weaker sections is a bit hard to believe. Women leaders at the grassroots may not be as loquacious and charismatic as those in the cities but they do invoke a sense of confidence among the rural women. That they have a woman representative who would voice their concern is matter of pride for them.

The argument that in most cases women are only dummy candidates, and act as directed by their husbands, is weak and would certainly not apply to MSY’s own daughter-in-law, or will it? SP candidate Dimple Yadav became the first woman to be declared elected unopposed in the by-election to the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat. A proud father-in-law thanked the opposition parties for not fielding their candidates against Dimple. Call it SP’s might or her ‘attraction’! If MSY does not agree that Dimple is a dummy candidate, why should he be sceptical about the rest?

MSY must apologise if he meant “attraction” in its literal sense. And in case he did not, there is no reason for him to be protective of rural women. They are learning to fight suppression, step by nano-step.