Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said he is apologising to the women of the country after the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill was not passed in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
“Everyone saw how women’s dreams have been derailed. The bill could not be passed, and I am very sorry to every woman,” the PM said, adding, “I seek forgiveness from all women of the country.”
“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.
Hitting out at the Opposition, the PM said, “They were celebrating after the bill wasn’t passed; this is a slap to the women of the country and a blot on women’s dignity.”
He added, “The opposition has committed a sin by opposing women’s reservation, and they will surely be punished for this. Opposition parties have insulted our Constitution by defeating the bill.”
“The Nari Shakti Bill is the demand of the time. It did not intend to snatch anything from anyone; it was aimed at providing women with what they truly deserve,” PM Modi said, adding, “Those who opposed this bill have taken women for granted.”
In his televised address, the PM said he had expected the Opposition to support the bill, but added that the Congress “repeated its history of not supporting the Bill.”
“The motive behind not supporting this bill was that these parties believe their politics would be threatened if it were passed,” he said.
He also said parties such as the Congress, DMK and TMC “celebrated their selfish politics” against women’s empowerment, and alleged that “family-run parties do not want women to move forward as that could end their selfish politics.”
“I expected the Congress to correct its past mistakes, but it missed an opportunity to script new history,” he said.
Regarding delimitation, the PM said, “The bill clearly stated that seats would increase in equal proportion for all states, and the government clarified this in Parliament, but the Opposition did not listen.”
He also accused the Congress of spreading “falsehoods about a North-South divide”.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi said the Congress and other Opposition parties would face consequences for opposing the bill aimed at early implementation of women’s reservation, and asked Union ministers to highlight what he described as their “anti-women” stance before the public, PTI reported.
At a Cabinet meeting, the prime minister reiterated his government’s commitment to implementing women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for 2029.
The proposed legislation sought to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats from the current 543 to 816 in order to operationalise the women’s reservation law ahead of the 2029 general elections, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census. It also proposed a rise in the number of seats in state and Union Territory assemblies to enable 33 per cent reservation for women.
The bill required a two-thirds majority for passage, but the BJP-led ruling alliance fell short of the required numbers.
In the Lok Sabha voting held on Friday night, 298 members supported the bill, while 230 voted against it.
Of the 528 members who participated in the vote, at least 352 votes were needed to secure the required two-thirds majority.
Hours before his address, speaking at a rally in Coimbatore, PM Narendra Modi slammed the DMK and Congress for derailing the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha. “The DMK has been exposed. The party can’t hide its true face now,” he said.
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