Several opposition leaders criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s description of the entire bloc as “anti-women”, with the Congress agreeing. Jairam Ramesh described his address to the nation as “partisan”.
Ramesh, who is also the Congress communications in-charge, said the current Prime Minister’s address to the nation has sanctity and is meant to be a non-partisan speech aimed at building national resolve and confidence. “This pathetic and polemical partisan attack – a distress speech rather than a patriotic one – would have been more appropriate at a press conference. But despite his bewilderment at the extraordinary legislative humiliation he suffered in the Lok Sabha last night, the non-Grihasti Prime Minister remains too cowardly to face the media,” Ramesh wrote on X.
The Congress leader said that the Prime Minister apologized for the failure of the constitutional amendment, although he should have apologized for his “shameful and deceitful attempts to push the twisted demarcation proposal in the name of women.”
“His intentions are anything but pure. They are toxic. If one were to investigate his intention, one only has to wonder why Nari Shakti Vandhan Adhiniyam, 2023, passed away unanimously in September 2023, and was not informed only late in the night of April 16, 2026, after a delay of 30 months. His talk of Mahila Samman is sheer hypocrisy considering the way he conducted himself all along.” He added his life.
Not just Ramesh, though, TMC MP Mahua Moitra also attacked the Prime Minister over his address to the nation, calling him a “drambazi”.
“Hey @narendramodi – Your dramabaazi and Godi media script will not hide the truth – reservation for women in 2023 has already been passed and notified 2 days ago. Nothing is stopping you from implementing it now and giving 1/3 of 543 seats to women the way TMC did,” Moitra wrote on X.
Her party colleague Derek O’Brien said the Narendra Modi government was using women as “bait” to pass the demarcation bill.
“Narendra, the worst form of insulting women is using them as a decoy* to try to get the demarcation bill passed. ‘Decoy (noun): Something or person used to trick someone into doing what you want them to do,'” he said in a social media post.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge counted the number of times his party was mentioned in PM Modi’s speech, and it came to 59 times.
“Modi mentioned Congress 59 times, and mentioned women only a few times. This tells the country everything about his priorities. Women are not the BJP’s priorities. Congress is, because Congress is on the right side of history,” Karg said in part of his long statement.
What did Prime Minister Modi say?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that opposition parties have “mercilessly crushed” women’s dreams by not allowing the Women’s Reservation Bill to be passed in Parliament despite efforts made by the government.
In an address to the nation, a day after a bill to implement women’s reservation in legislative assemblies was defeated in the Lok Sabha, Modi said that the selfish policies of parties like Congress, TDP, TMC and Samajwadi Party had come at the expense of the women of the nation, and that they had thwarted efforts to give 33 per cent reservation to women in legislative assemblies.
“I ask for forgiveness from all the women of the country,” he said.
The Prime Minister said that the opposition parties that opposed the Nari Shakti Vandhan Adhiniyam in Parliament took women’s power for granted.
“Today, every citizen of India witnesses how the journey of Indian women has been stopped. The dreams of the women of the country have been mercilessly crushed, and despite our best efforts, we have not been able to achieve success,” he said.
Modi said women have seen how parties like the Congress, TMC and KDP “celebrate their selfish policies” against women’s empowerment.
“The opposition has committed a sin by opposing women’s reservation, and they will certainly be punished for it. The opposition parties have insulted our Constitution by defeating the bill,” he said.
The Prime Minister said that the bill aims to give wings to women’s empowerment without taking anything from anyone.
“I expected Congress to correct the mistakes of the past, but it missed an opportunity to write a new history. Family-run parties do not want women to move forward because that might end their selfish policies,” he said.
He also accused Congress of pursuing divisive politics, alleging that it was spreading lies about the North-South divide
He said: “Women forget everything except the insult directed at them. This insult by Congress and its allies will always remain in the heart of every woman.”
Modi said the Nari Shakti Vandhan Adhinyam amendment was the need of the hour and a sincere effort to ensure balanced empowerment across North, South, East and West.
“Congress has always opposed all attempts to build the nation and improve our country,” he said.
