New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday mounted a strong attack on Opposition parties following the defeat of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha, alleging that Congress has historically worked to deny women opportunities for development and political representation.

The criticism came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharply criticised the Congress and its allies, accusing them of committing what he termed as “foeticide” of the proposed ‘Nari Shakti Vandan’ Amendment, which was aimed at enhancing women’s participation in Indian politics.

Addressing the nation on Saturday, the Prime Minister asserted that the proposed amendment was not intended to take away rights from any section but to grant long-pending representation to women, who make up nearly half of the country’s population.

Expressing strong disappointment over the Opposition’s stance, PM Modi accused parties such as the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and DMK of “brutally killing” the initiative both inside Parliament and in the public domain.

He further said that Congress has historically resisted women’s reservation and has repeatedly created obstacles whenever such measures were brought forward. According to him, this time too the Opposition relied on what he described as misleading arguments, diversionary tactics and statistical justifications to stall the Bill.

Reacting to the developments, Union Minister Giriraj Singh told IANS, “They (the Opposition) are against the women of the country. The tukde-tukde gang, which calls itself the INDIA bloc, has deprived the women of the reservation. God knows what happened to DMK and the people of Kerala. The Prime Minister had brought the best formula for the reservation, while ensuring that no state would lose seats.”

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak also condemned the Opposition, saying that the electorate would not forgive them for blocking the legislation.

Speaking to IANS, Pathak said, “The way the Congress, Samajwadi Party and other Opposition parties have stopped the Women’s Reservation Bill from being passed in the Parliament, the women of the country and the state will never forgive them. This is a huge barrier to achieving the resolution of a Viksit Bharat. Congress and the Samajwadi Party will have to face the consequences for this.”

“The Opposition parties have nothing to say. They only want to mislead by making nonsensical statements. But the women of the country and the people of the country understand the truth very well,” he added.

BJP National Spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari alleged that Congress has consistently opposed reforms and development initiatives.

“The Congress party is an anti-women and anti-development party. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed the anger of the people of this country towards the Congress party. The people of the country have realised that the thinking and policy of the Congress party is anti-women, and whenever there is a talk of development or reform in the country that talks about taking the people of the country forward, the Congress party always opposes it,” Bhandari told IANS.

He further asserted that for 70 years, Congress did not give toilets, banks or homes to women because “they wanted the women to be deprived of the development and representation”.

“That is why the Indian National Congress has now become the Indian Anti-Women and Anti-Development Congress,” the BJP spokesperson added.

–IANS

sd/