Opp shattered women’s dreams: PM

Targets Congress, DMK, TMC, Samajwadi Party for ‘selfish politics’

A day after a bill to implement women’s reservation in legislatures was defeated in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday attacked opposition parties, including the Congress, for shattering women’s dreams by not allowing the bill to pass in Parliament despite the government’s best efforts.

PM said the opposition has committed a sin by opposing women’s reservation, and they will surely be punished for this. He also accused the Congress of pursuing divisive politics, alleging it spread falsehoods about a North-South divide.

In an address to the nation, Modi said the self-serving politics of parties like the Congress, the DMK, the TMC, and the Samajwadi Party have come at the expense of the nation’s women, and that they had foiled efforts to grant 33 per cent reservation to women in legislatures. “I seek forgiveness from all women of the country,” he said.

The prime minister said opposition parties that opposed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in Parliament were taking women’s power for granted. “Today, every citizen of India is witnessing how the march of India’s women has been halted. The dreams of the country’s women have been mercilessly crushed, and despite our utmost efforts, we could not succeed,” he said.

Modi said women had seen how parties like the Congress, the TMC and the DMK “celebrated their selfish politics” against women’s empowerment. “Opposition parties have insulted our Constitution by defeating the bill,” he said.

The prime minister said the bill was aimed at giving wings to women’s empowerment without taking anything away from anyone. “I expected the Congress to correct its past mistakes, but it missed an opportunity to script new history. The family-run parties do not want women to move forward as that could end their selfish politics,” he said.

Modi said the amendment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was the need of the hour and an honest effort to ensure balanced empowerment across north, south, east and west. “A woman forgets everything, but not her insult; this insult by the Congress and its allies will always remain in every woman’s heart. Congress has always opposed all attempts for nation-building, betterment of our country,” he said.

“I am as sad as all women who are unhappy over the non-passage of the Bill. We may not have been able to garner 66 per cent vote in its support, but 100 per cent of Nari Shakti is with us,” PM Modi said, vowing to overcome all hurdles in implementing women’s reservation.

Launching an acerbic, direct attack on the Congress, Modi named the grand old party about 100 times, blaming it for spreading misinformation on delimitation, adopting an “anti-reform” approach, and pursuing “negative politics” that harms the national interest. He said the Congress is following a policy of divide and rule, which he alleged it inherited from the British, and is spreading misinformation that delimitation would adversely impact certain states.

PM Modi said the issue is not limited to a single piece of legislation but part of a broader political contest against what he described as dynastic parties that are anti-reform, adding that the struggle would continue.  Modi described opposition parties’ intention as committing “foeticide” against the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan’ Amendment.