Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a sharp attack on the Indian National Congress, calling it an “anti-reform party” that obstructs measures aimed at strengthening the country, a day after a key Constitution amendment bill on women’s reservation and seat expansion failed in the Lok Sabha.
In an address to the nation, PM Modi accused the Congress of consistently opposing reforms and misleading the public. His remarks followed the defeat of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which sought to expand Lok Sabha seats to 816 and implement 33 per cent reservation for women from 2029.
नारी शक्ति वंदन अधिनियम के विरोध की एक बड़ी वजह है- परिवारवादी पार्टियों का डर! उन्हें लगता है कि महिलाएं सशक्त हो गईं, तो उनका नेतृत्व खतरे में पड़ जाएगा। pic.twitter.com/Y6nDnN6swS
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 18, 2026
Modi said he believes that the Congress lost the opportunity to stand with the women of the country.
”The Congress has lost its footing in several parts of the country and is keeping itself alive by piggybacking on regional parties like a parasite,” Modi said.
He said the Congress does not want the strength of regional parties to grow and therefore carried out the ”political conspiracy” of pushing many regional parties’ futures into darkness by making them oppose the bill.
”reservation, Congress has once again shown that it is an anti-reform party. For 21st-century India, whatever reforms are necessary, the decisions the country is taking, Congress opposes all of them, rejects them, and puts obstacles in their way. This is the history of Congress, and this is its negative politics,” Modi said.
This is the same Congress which opposed the ”Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile trishakti,” the prime minister said.
Modi said the Congress opposed digital payments, GST, reservation to the general category poor, triple talaq law, removal of Article 370, and also opposed the uniform civil code.
”As soon as it (Congress) hears reform, it runs with its placard of opposing it. The Congress deploys its full force to put obstacles in the way of any work through which the country is strengthened,” Modi said.
Congress opposes ’one nation, one election’; it also opposes removing infiltrators, purification of electoral lists through SIR, reform in waqf boards and protection to refugees through CAA, he said, adding that the party also put obstacles in efforts to end Maoist and Naxal violence.
History is witness that Congress has always chosen this negative path, the prime minister declaimed.
”Whatever work is important for the country, the Congress brushes it under the carpet. Due to this approach of the Congress, India has not been able to attain the heights of development that it deserves,” Modi said.
”At the time of India’s Independence, several countries got freedom, but most of those countries moved ahead of us, and the reason was that the Congress stalled all reforms,” he said.
Modi said the Congress kept stalling the resolution of border disputes with neighbouring countries, including the water disputes with Pakistan.
”It stalled the decision on OBC reservation for 40 years. It stalled ’One Rank One Pension’ for 40 years. This approach of the Congress has always harmed the country in a big way,” Modi said.
The country and its generations had to pay because of the opposition of the Congress and its deception, he said.
”All big challenges that are there before the country are due to this approach of the Congress,” the prime minister said.
”I have no doubt in my mind that all the sisters and mothers of the country will give a befitting reply to this mindset of the Congress,” he asserted.
On Friday in the Lok Sabha, while 298 members voted in support of the bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.
The bill proposed to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 from the current 543 to ”operationalise” the women’s reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats were also to be increased in state and UT assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
The three-day special sitting was convened from April 16 to 18 to secure Parliament’s approval for the bill.
With inputs from agencies
First Published:
April 19, 2026, 00:33 IST
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