Opposition Leaders Launch Scathing Attack on PM Modi Following Women's Reservation Bill Defeat
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge spearheaded a forceful opposition assault against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, responding to the Prime Minister's attribution of blame to opposition parties for the defeat of the women's reservation bill in the Lok Sabha.
Kharge Accuses PM of Turning Official Address into Political Rally
In a sharply worded social media post on platform X, Kharge launched a direct attack on the Prime Minister, accusing him of transforming what should have been an official national address into a politically charged speech filled with what he characterized as falsehoods and personal attacks.
"A desperate and frustrated Prime Minister with nothing meaningful to show for the last twelve years turned an official address to the nation into a political speech, full of mudslinging and outright lies," Kharge stated unequivocally.
The Congress leader highlighted what he described as revealing statistics from the Prime Minister's address, noting that "the Prime Minister mentioned Congress fifty-nine times and women barely a 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."
Three-Year Delay in Notification Draws Criticism
Kharge further intensified his criticism by pointing to what he called a significant delay in implementing previously passed legislation. "The BJP could not get that Bill passed in the Lok Sabha. They brought another Bill in 2023, and the Congress Party supported that too. That Bill still exists," he explained.
The Congress president revealed that the bill was officially notified on April 16th, while the Lok Sabha was simultaneously discussing delimitation Constitutional Amendment Bills. He emphasized that this notification was executed by the same Prime Minister who now faces criticism.
"The fact that it took the BJP three years to notify their own bill shows their commitment to India's Naari Shakti," Kharge remarked with evident sarcasm.
Direct Challenge to Implement Existing Law
In a direct challenge to the government, Kharge demanded immediate action: "Modi ji should stop lying to the nation. He should implement thirty-three percent reservation for women in the existing five hundred forty-three Lok Sabha seats under the 2023 law. Do not deny women their due representation now."
The Congress leader accused the government of deliberately confusing separate legislative matters, stating firmly: "Stop mixing up the delimitation bills, i.e., the three Constitution Amendment Bills, with the Women's Reservation Bill. Stop lying to the nation that this was an amendment to the Women's Reservation Bill - the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. It was NOT. This was purely a delimitation Bill, brought in to create further division and redraw the electoral map in a manner that can only benefit the BJP."
Mamata Banerjee Joins the Fray
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee simultaneously launched her own criticism against the Prime Minister, asserting that he had chosen to "mislead the nation rather than address it honestly" in his statements regarding the legislative defeat.
In her detailed social media post, Banerjee categorically rejected any suggestion that her Trinamool Congress party opposed women's reservation, highlighting instead her party's record of female representation.
"Let me put this on record. Trinamool Congress has always championed higher political representation for women. We have the highest proportion of female elected representatives in both Parliament and the State Legislature," Banerjee stated, providing specific statistics to support her claim.
She revealed that thirty-seven point nine percent of TMC's elected Lok Sabha members are women, while the party has nominated forty-six percent women members to the Rajya Sabha.
Banerjee clarified her party's actual objection: "What we are fundamentally opposed to is the Delimitation exercise that the Modi Government was plotting to push through by using women as a shield for its vested political agenda."
The West Bengal leader framed her opposition in constitutional terms: "What we are fundamentally opposed to is the altering of Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution, the division of this nation and the usurpation of power through gerrymandering, by redrawing political contours to hand greater representation to BJP-ruled states at the expense of others. This is an assault on federal democracy. And we will not watch it happen in silence."
Karnataka Deputy CM Adds Regional Dimension to Criticism
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar introduced a regional perspective to the criticism, emphasizing procedural concerns about how the legislation was handled. He stated that the opposition was not properly consulted or taken into confidence regarding the bill's introduction and timing.
"This is democracy; this is not a Hitler-style rule. They cannot bring it in the middle of elections and try to alter the entire constituencies," Shivakumar told reporters, employing strong language to characterize the government's approach.
Responding to BJP accusations that Congress opposes women's advancement, Shivakumar countered: "This is not anyone's personal property—women are the nation's asset. We had passed this in the Rajya Sabha and Congress has already given fifty percent reservation to women in local bodies. Even today, we support it."
The Karnataka leader raised specific concerns about regional representation: "Without consulting us, they are trying to redraw constituencies, giving more weight to North India and reducing representation in South India. No one can tolerate this."
Shivakumar noted that numerous opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, and several South Indian chief ministers, have opposed what he termed the government's approach, describing the bills' defeat as "a major victory for democracy."
Background: The Defeated Legislation
The political controversy follows a significant legislative setback for the government in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which proposed thirty-three percent reservation for women in legislatures and an increase in Lok Sabha seats to eight hundred sixteen, was defeated despite government efforts.
The ambitious proposal aimed to substantially expand parliamentary representation by increasing Lok Sabha seats from five hundred forty-three to eight hundred sixteen to implement women's reservation ahead of the 2029 parliamentary elections. This expansion would have followed a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census data.
The legislation also planned to correspondingly increase seats in state and Union Territory assemblies to accommodate the proposed women's quota, representing one of the most significant potential changes to India's electoral landscape in decades.
Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Modi had characterized the bill's failure as "a setback for women across the country" and offered an apology for his government's inability to ensure its passage despite their efforts, setting the stage for the opposition's forceful response.
