Cong, allies committed ‘sin of foeticide’ by killing quota bill: PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday warned the Congress and its allies that the women of India will severely punish them for “the sin of foeticide” after they killed a bill on women’s reservation in Parliament and state assemblies.
In an address to the nation, Modi apologised to the women, and said the government may have lost the vote but it will never give up its efforts to empower women.
“We may not have got the necessary 66 per cent votes for the passage of the bill yesterday, but we have got 100 per cent blessings of ‘Nari Shakti’,” Modi said in an address to the nation, a day after a bill to implement 33 per cent women’s reservation in legislatures in 2029 was defeated in the Lok Sabha.
He said the opposition parties have “mercilessly crushed” the dream of women by not allowing the bill to pass in Parliament despite the government’s best efforts. “I seek forgiveness from all women of the country,” he said, while asserting that his government will remove all obstacles in the way of implementing women’s reservation and for their empowerment.
Modi, in his 30-minute speech, alleged that the “self-serving politics” of parties like the Congress, DMK, TMC and the Samajwadi Party has come at the expense of the nation’s women.
Modi said the opposition parties, which have opposed the Nari Shakti Vandan Amendment in Parliament, are taking women power for granted. “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.
Modi said India’s women saw how parties like Congress, TMC and DMK celebrated their selfish politics against the country’s women power. “They have been unmasked,” he claimed. “The Congress and its allies have committed foeticide of the honest effort in front of the entire country in the House. Parties like the Congress, DMK, TMC and the SP are guilty of this foeticide.
“They are criminals against the country’s Constitution, criminals against the country’s feminine power. The Congress hates the issue of women’s reservation itself,” he alleged. Modi said the Congress has often fuelled divisive narratives in the country and has spread the claim that delimitation would harm certain states.
However, he said, the government made it clear from the very beginning that no state’s share would be reduced and that the seats would increase proportionately. “Even then, Congress, along with the DMK, TMC and the SP, refused to accept this,” he said. Modi said the Congress has always spread falsehoods about necessary reforms and delayed every such decision while it ruled. “Every single challenge our country faces today is due to the negative approach of the Congress party over the years. Women of our country will give a befitting reply to Congress and its allies,” he said.
Modi said a key reason behind the opposition to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhinyam is the fear among dynasty-driven parties that if women are truly empowered, their leadership structures could be challenged.
He said by opposing this bill, the Congress has shown itself to be an “anti-reform party”. This is the same Congress that opposed Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar, and digital payments as well as the Goods and Services Tax, he said.