'Noble Effort Derailed': PM Modi Blames DMK, Congress Over Women’s Reservation Bill

Last Updated:April 18, 2026, 21:46 IST

PM Modi blamed DMK and Congress for derailing the Women’s Reservation Bill, and urged voters in Tamil Nadu to punish them in the April 23 polls.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused the DMK and the Congress of derailing women’s reservation bill, describing it as a “noble effort" that had been turned into a “target of hatred and petty politics."

In an address to the nation, Modi sharply criticised the ruling DMK and its ally Congress over the defeat of the amendment bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday. He questioned why the two parties were opposed to greater political representation for women from ordinary backgrounds.

“Why does it trouble DMK, Congress to see ordinary women rise?" the Prime Minister asked, alleging that these “one family parties want power to be confined in their own family," in an apparent reference to both the DMK and the Congress.

Modi said he had personally appealed to opposition parties to support the women’s reservation bill and had even offered to let them take credit for it. “I only wanted sisters from ordinary families to come to Parliament, assemblies in good numbers," he said. “But unfortunately, this noble effort got derailed. DMK, Congress and their allies made it a target of hatred and petty politics."

The Prime Minister claimed that, had the bill been passed, many women from ordinary families in Tamil Nadu would have become MPs and MLAs. He added that, based on the 2011 census, Tamil Nadu was set to gain several more Lok Sabha seats, but “clearly DMK didn’t want this to happen."

Appealing directly to women voters in the state, Modi urged them to question the DMK over its stand on the bill. He asked them to seek answers as to why the party opposed legislation aimed at ensuring their representation and why it “denied Tamil women this golden opportunity."

News india 'Noble Effort Derailed': PM Modi Blames DMK, Congress Over Women’s Reservation Bill

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