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Opposition trying to divide women on religious lines: PM Modi
Opposition parties obstructed the passage of women’s reservation bill for the past three decades, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday.
Opposition parties obstructed the passage of women’s reservation bill for the past three decades, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday, adding that now that the legislation has been cleared by Parliament, they are trying to divide women in the name of caste and religion.
Modi was addressing an event in Vadodara, organised by the Gujarat unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to celebrate the passage of the women’s reservation bill in both Houses of Parliament. Thousands of women attended the event at Navlakhi ground.
“Opposition stalled the women’s reservation bill for three decades, look at their track record. They are trying to divide women in the name of caste and religion when the bill has been passed,” Modi said.
The prime minister further said that the opposition was “compelled” to support the passage of the women’s reservation bill, which seeks to reserve 33% seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women.
“These are the same people who mocked me when I talked about toilets for women and when I talked about Jan Dhan accounts for women. They mocked the Ujjwala Yojana... When we talked about liberating Muslim women from triple talaq, they were concerned about their political equations,” Modi said.
Attacking the opposition INDIA bloc, calling it “ghamandiya” (arrogant), Modi added: “While the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam may have been successfully passed, it is important to understand that this doesn’t necessarily reflect an improvement in their intentions.”
For the past three decades, the opposition parties chose inaction, he said. “They engaged in theatrics while we initiated change, only for others to obstruct it…One of them introduced the Bill while another one tore it… And that another one is right now sitting with them (INDIA coalition),” Modi said, in an apparent reference to RJD leader Surendra Yadav, who tore a copy of the women’s reservation bill in the Lok Sabha in 1998.
“This bill has been possible because of the strength of women. Otherwise, they (Opposition) were involved in match-fixing to stall this bill… Today, they are left wondering how Modi managed to achieve this,” the prime minister said.
At a separate event on the concluding day of his two-day visit to Gujarat, Modi inaugurated development projects worth over ₹5,200 crore, including education projects worth ₹4,500 crore, at Bodeli in the tribal-dominated Chhota Udepur district.
“Since I spent significant time with you, I know the issues faced by the poor people and I have always tried to solve those issues. Today I am satisfied because my government has built 4 crore [40 million] houses for the people across the country,” he said. “Unlike previous governments, a house for the poor is not just a number for us. We work to provide dignity to the poor by building houses for them.”
He added: “Lakhs of houses were built and registered in the names of our women. Though I don’t have a house in my name, my government made lakhs of daughters houseowners.”
