A day after a Constitutional amendment bill, intended to remove the freeze on delimitation and linked to women’s reservation, was defeated in Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used a national prime time address to attack the opposition.
Comparing the bill’s defeat in the Lok Sabha to “female foeticide”, Modi named several opposition parties, including the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC). He accused them of stalling the bill and claimed that women across the country would not forgive them.
The address came as election campaigning in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal is drawing to a close. In his speech, the Prime Minister did not touch upon the concerns regarding delimitation and the fear of certain states that their political representation will take a hit. Instead, he framed it as a defeat of the women’s reservation bill.
What the PM said
The Prime Minister described the development as a painful moment and reiterated his unwavering commitment to removing every obstacle to greater representation of women in legislative bodies.
He said that his government would continue its efforts to ensure women get their due share in the country’s decision-making process.
He targeted the Congress and its allies, accusing them of a historical aversion to women’s reservation and alleging that the Opposition had relied on misinformation and diversionary tactics, which he said had exposed their “true faces” before the women of the country.
“The Bill was not about credit. I even mentioned in Parliament that I will give credit to the Opposition,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
He added: “We may not have got 66 per cent votes, but we have got the blessings of 100 per cent of women. We may not have had the numbers yesterday, but we will continue our fight.”
Framing the outcome of the Women’s Reservation Bill as part of a broader pattern, the Prime Minister cited the Congress party’s opposition to measures such as Aadhaar, GST, digital payments, reservation for economically weaker sections, and the abrogation of Article 370.
He argued that the party’s approach has been to resist reforms and create hurdles rather than facilitate progress.
Calling the Congress an “anti-reform” party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “Congress objects to everything necessary for development in the 21st century. This is the same party that objected to digital payments, and even objected to triple talaq laws. Congress has a history of creating hurdles for anything that is done for the development of the country.”
Opposition hits back
Opposition parties have criticised the Prime Minister for using the prime time address to obfuscate the issues of delimitation and women’s reservation. They alleged that the Union government’s intent was to introduce delimitation through a back channel.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the Prime Minister used the address to target the Opposition, particularly the Congress, instead of focusing on substantive governance issues.
He also claimed that PM Modi referred to the Congress repeatedly in his speech while making limited mention of women, questioning the government's commitment to women's empowerment.
"The Model Code of Conduct is already in place and it was very clear how PM Modi misused official machinery to attack his opponents. This is a travesty of Democracy and the Constitution of India. Modi ji mentioned Congress 59 times and women barely few times. That tells the country everything about his priorities. Women are not the BJP’s priority. Congress is, because Congress stands on the right side of history," Kharge wrote on X.
TMC leader Mahua Moitra challenged the BJP to implement women’s reservation in the party and pointed out that the party has the least representation of women in the Parliament.
DMK Spokesperson TKS Elangovan said, “They (BJP) are blatantly cheating the people. This Bill (women’s reservation) was introduced twice and they did not support it, which is why it was pending in the Parliament for quite sometime, it was because of BJP. They are not interested in women empowerment, but in reducing the number of seats of the Southern states… Out of the 850 seats, they mentioned that Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Keralam, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry will get 170 seats, which means the remaining North Indian states will get 680 seats. This is how they planned. We only opposed delimitation, never talked a single word about women’s reservation…”
Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha Leader Derek O’Brien said, "Narendra, the worst form of insulting women is to have used them as a DECOY* to try and pass the Delimitation Bill. *Decoy (noun) : a thing or a person that is used to trick somebody into doing what you want them to do (sic)."