New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday apologised to the women of the country for having failed to get the Women’s Reservation Bill passed in Lok Sabha.
“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,” Modi said at the outset in his address to the nation on Saturday evening.
“I sincerely apologise to all the mothers and sisters of the nation for this,” the PM submitted.
#WATCH | In his address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, “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… pic.twitter.com/Y2s2hBUCz6
— ANI (@ANI) April 18, 2026
Modi lashed out at Opposition parties for voting against the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill aimed to reserve 33% of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, accusing them of putting politics over public interest.
“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.”
“The country’s ‘Nari Shakti’ had to bear the burden of the selfish politics of parties like Congress, DMK, TMC and Samajwadi Party,” Modi claimed.
‘Pain and anger’
Earlier in the day, Modi expressed his ‘pain and anger’ while addressing an election rally in poll-bound Tamil Nadu. He took up cudgels against ruling party DMK and Congress.
“Today, amid my people, I want to express my pain and anger. In 2023, we passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, and on the 16th of this month, we took a historic step to move towards implementing women’s reservation in Parliament and Assemblies. I personally appealed to all the political parties to support this. I told them clearly that they may take the credit; I have no objection. I only wanted sisters from ordinary families to come to the Parliament and Assemblies in greater numbers… But unfortunately, this noble effort was derailed by DMK and Congress, as they made the legislation a target of hatred and petty politics,” Modi said in Coimbatore.