Kharge Calls Modi ‘Desperate and Frustrated’ After Women’s Quota Bill Falls in Lok Sabha

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday trained his guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of misusing official machinery to deliver a politically charged address in the middle of the Model Code of Conduct.

“A desperate and frustrated PM with nothing meaningful to show for the last 12 years turned an official address to the nation into a political speech full of mudslinging and outright lies,” Kharge said. “The Model Code of Conduct is already in place, and it was clear how PM Modi misused official machinery to attack his opponents. This is a travesty of democracy and the Constitution of India.”

The Congress chief’s broadside came a day after the 131st Constitution Amendment Bill, 2026, was defeated in the Lok Sabha on Friday a setback that stalled both the proposed expansion of Lok Sabha seats to 850 and the rollout of 33 per cent reservation for women.

Modi, in his address to the nation following the bill’s defeat, hit back hard at the opposition. He accused Congress, DMK, TMC, and the Samajwadi Party of celebrating the failure of a key reform, saying they were “happy and celebrating” when the bill fell and had “insulted the women of India.” He warned that women would not forgive them. “Dynastic parties were laughing after taking away women’s rights,” he said.

The Prime Minister also expressed personal anguish over the outcome. “Yesterday, crores of women had their eyes on Parliament. The country’s women’s power was witnessing everything. It deeply pained me,” he said, adding that opposition parties put narrow political interests ahead of the nation’s mothers and sisters. He apologised to the country’s “mothers and daughters” for the bill’s defeat.

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“A woman can forget everything, but she never forgets her insult. The behaviour of Congress and its allies in Parliament will remain a lasting pain in every woman’s heart,” Modi said.

The bill failed to clear the mandatory two-thirds special majority in the Lok Sabha. The NDA secured 298 votes in favour while the INDIA bloc voted against with 230, arguing that tying women’s reservation to the delimitation exercise could upset the political balance in southern and northeastern states. Of the 528 members present, the bill needed 352 votes to pass falling 54 short despite achieving a simple majority.