The Crossbill News Desk
Political tensions escalated sharply on Saturday (April 18) after Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a nationally televised address defending his government’s failed legislative push linked to women’s reservation and delimitation reforms, triggering strong backlash from Opposition parties across the country.
The address came a day after the government’s three-Bill package — aimed at removing the freeze on delimitation and expanding the strength of the Lok Sabha to “operationalise” women’s reservation — failed to secure the required two-thirds majority during a special session of Parliament.
In his 29-minute speech, Modi opened by ‘seeking forgiveness’ from India’s “mothers, sisters and daughters” over the Bills not being passed, before launching a sharp attack on Opposition parties.
Declaring that “a woman may forget everything but never an insult to herself”, the prime minister went on to say that the opposition’s decision to vote against the Bills was not only insulting to women but was comparable to female foeticide.
The Congress and its allies, said Modi, “have committed female foeticide in parliament in front of everyone”.
“They have committed female foeticide! Parties like the Congress, the TMC, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the DMK are the culprits of this female foeticide. They are offenders against the country’s Constitution. They are the offenders against the country’s nari shakti,” the prime minister said.
During the address, Modi singled out Opposition parties including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Trinamool Congress, even as elections approach in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal where the Model Code of Conduct is currently in force. The MCC advises against the use of official mass media for partisan political messaging, a point repeatedly raised by Opposition leaders following the speech.
Opposition parties criticised the address soon after it concluded, accusing the Prime Minister of converting a national platform into a political attack. Congress general secretary and MP Jairam Ramesh said that while “a sitting Prime Minister’s address to the nation” is “meant to be a non-partisan address intended to build national resolve and confidence”, Modi’s speech Saturday was a “pathetic partisan and polemical attack”.
Such a “Distress Address rather than a National Address would have been more appropriate in a Press Conference”, he added, while Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge described the speech made during the MCC period as “a travesty of Democracy and the Constitution of India”.
Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha, in an open letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, stated that Modi’s “Address to the Nation truly appeared to be an electoral address” and demanded that it “be added to his election expenditure”.
In his remarks, Modi also defended the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, calling them a “mahayagna for removing obstacles from the path of India’s 21st-century women” and a mechanism for ensuring the “equal development of all states”.
The Prime Minister asserted that the “government has made it clear from day one that neither would the proportion of participation [in the Lok Sabha] of any state change, nor would anyone’s representation decrease”. Instead, “every state would undergo an increase in seats by an equal proportion”, he said, accusing the opposition of “incessantly lying about delimitation”.
However, Opposition parties and several constitutional commentators pointed out that the proposed legislation does not explicitly guarantee proportional seat increases across states.
The proposed removal of the long-standing freeze on delimitation, coupled with indications that the 2011 Census may be used for seat redistribution, has intensified concerns that population-heavy Hindi belt states could gain parliamentary representation at the expense of southern and other states that had earlier stabilised population growth.
The episode has deepened political polarisation over the implementation of the Women’s Reservation framework, with both the government and Opposition now preparing for intensified parliamentary and electoral battles over representation, federal balance and constitutional procedure.
The address came a day after the government’s three-Bill package — aimed at removing the freeze on delimitation and expanding the strength of the Lok Sabha to “operationalise” women’s reservation — failed to secure the required two-thirds majority during a special session of Parliament.
In his 29-minute speech, Modi opened by ‘seeking forgiveness’ from India’s “mothers, sisters and daughters” over the Bills not being passed, before launching a sharp attack on Opposition parties.
Declaring that “a woman may forget everything but never an insult to herself”, the prime minister went on to say that the opposition’s decision to vote against the Bills was not only insulting to women but was comparable to female foeticide.
The Congress and its allies, said Modi, “have committed female foeticide in parliament in front of everyone”.
“They have committed female foeticide! Parties like the Congress, the TMC, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the DMK are the culprits of this female foeticide. They are offenders against the country’s Constitution. They are the offenders against the country’s nari shakti,” the prime minister said.
During the address, Modi singled out Opposition parties including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Trinamool Congress, even as elections approach in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal where the Model Code of Conduct is currently in force. The MCC advises against the use of official mass media for partisan political messaging, a point repeatedly raised by Opposition leaders following the speech.
Opposition parties criticised the address soon after it concluded, accusing the Prime Minister of converting a national platform into a political attack. Congress general secretary and MP Jairam Ramesh said that while “a sitting Prime Minister’s address to the nation” is “meant to be a non-partisan address intended to build national resolve and confidence”, Modi’s speech Saturday was a “pathetic partisan and polemical attack”.
Such a “Distress Address rather than a National Address would have been more appropriate in a Press Conference”, he added, while Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge described the speech made during the MCC period as “a travesty of Democracy and the Constitution of India”.
Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha, in an open letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, stated that Modi’s “Address to the Nation truly appeared to be an electoral address” and demanded that it “be added to his election expenditure”.
In his remarks, Modi also defended the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, calling them a “mahayagna for removing obstacles from the path of India’s 21st-century women” and a mechanism for ensuring the “equal development of all states”.
The Prime Minister asserted that the “government has made it clear from day one that neither would the proportion of participation [in the Lok Sabha] of any state change, nor would anyone’s representation decrease”. Instead, “every state would undergo an increase in seats by an equal proportion”, he said, accusing the opposition of “incessantly lying about delimitation”.
However, Opposition parties and several constitutional commentators pointed out that the proposed legislation does not explicitly guarantee proportional seat increases across states.
The proposed removal of the long-standing freeze on delimitation, coupled with indications that the 2011 Census may be used for seat redistribution, has intensified concerns that population-heavy Hindi belt states could gain parliamentary representation at the expense of southern and other states that had earlier stabilised population growth.
The episode has deepened political polarisation over the implementation of the Women’s Reservation framework, with both the government and Opposition now preparing for intensified parliamentary and electoral battles over representation, federal balance and constitutional procedure.
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