In his address to the nation at 8.30 pm, Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the selfish politics of the Congress and its allies a day after the women's reservation bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha. He said every citizen of India is watching how dreams of our women have been crushed as he sought forgiveness from all women of the country.
"Today I'm here to discuss an important issue, especially for the women of this country. Every citizen of this country is witnessing how women's progress has stalled... Despite our best efforts, we haven't succeeded. Amendments could not be made in the Nari Shakti Adhiniyam. And I apologise to all the mothers and daughters and in the nation for this," the PM said as he began the address.
He added that the fight for empowering India's women has been stalled due to selfish politics of opposition parties. “India's women saw how parties celebrated their selfish politics against our women power,” he said, slamming Congress, DMK, TMC and Samajwadi Party.
"I was deeply saddened to see that when this proposal for women's welfare was defeated, dynastic parties like the Congress, DMK, TMC, and Samajwadi Party were clapping with joy. These people were thumping the table after snatching away women's rights," PM Modi said, calling it an attack on women's self-respect and self-esteem.
He said the pain of the behaviour of the Congress and its allies in Parliament will always remain in every woman's heart. "Whenever women across the country see these leaders in their constituencies, they will remember that these same people celebrated and rejoiced when women's reservation was blocked in Parliament," he added.
Alleging that the Opposition has committed a sin by opposing women reservation, PM Modi said they will be surely punished for this. “Opposition parties have insulted our Constitution by defeating bill for women's reservation in legislatures,” he claimed.
He pointed out that the bill was aimed to give wings to our women power, without snatching anything from anyone.
"Nation’s welfare is our priority, but when political benefit becomes the priority for some people, even bigger than the nation’s welfare, the women of the country have to bear the burden for this. The same happened this time as well,” said the Prime Minister.
"Personally, I had hopes that the Congress would rectify its decades-old mistake, that it would atone for its sins. But Congress lost the opportunity to script history and stand in support of women," Modi said, adding that party has lost its existence in most of the regions of the country.
The PM said like a parasite, Congress piggyrides regional parties and keeps itself alive. "But Congress does not even want regional parties to grow stronger. So, it hatched the political conspiracy of pushing the future of several regional parties by making them oppose this amendment," he added.