By Dr. Gyan Pathak
Let us put the fact on record – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s women’s reservation is in force since April 16, 2026, but with conditions apply. And what is the chief condition among others? When they will expand the size of the Lok Sabha – a condition that is part of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023, that became act on September 28, 2023 after presidential assent. PM Narendra Modi led government was sitting over it since, but notified in the dead of the night on April 16, 2026, when the Parliament of India was already debating amendments to the Act introduced by the government in the three day special session – April 16-18 – convened by itself. The Bill was ultimately put to vote on April 17, and was defeated.
It is worth noting that unlike Modi government’s inconsistency of policy in this regard, the opposition has always been demanding immediate implementation of women’s reservation without any futuristic “conditions apply” clauses, but right away within the present Lok Sabha. They had opposed the conditions put by the Modi government in Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023 then, and also the new conditions being pushed under the Constitution 131st Amendment Bill now.
The Constitution 131st Amendment Bill which sought to amend the not-yet-notified Constitution 106th Amendment Act (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023), on which Modi government was just sitting over and did not care to notify it until it perceived on April 16 that the parliament was not in a mood to pass the amendment bill.
“Conditions apply” is a mindset of the business people selling their product and services, just to hoodwink the people – highlighting their product and services, but writing conditions apply clauses in too small a font to read. Nevertheless, alert people read the conditions apply clauses, so that they may not be put on disadvantage by hidden intentions therein. The opposition has read the new “conditions apply” clauses and defeated the Bill brought with two other bills – The Delimitation Bill 2026, and because it hand linked women’s reservation to 15 year old Census 2011 data, and Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill 2026.
The government said that it intended to implement women’s reservation by Lok Sabha Election 2029, and expand the Lok Sabha seats from current 543 seats to 850. The new conditions apply clauses also are proof that Modi government did not want to implement women’s reservation immediately – as it did not want in 2023. They want to implement it when they will expand the Lok Sabha, not before that, while opposition want it to be implemented right away without waiting for expansion of the seats.
On the one hand PM Modi does not want to implement women’s reservation immediately, as the current notification and his efforts to link it to delimitation with new conditions in the introduced bills prove, and on the other linking it to future delimitation has not been acceptable for the opposition for several reasons, the chief among them is that they see BJP not serious on giving women’s reservation, but on delimitation and expanding the Lok Sabha seats to establish BJP’s political dominance in the country. Opposition had demanded to defer delimitation by 25 years, and implement women’s reservation on the current strength of the House. PM Modi also wants women’s reservation but want to implemented is when the government will increase the size of the Lok Sabha, God knows when.
PM Modi’s address to the nation on April 18 came after his women’s bill was democratically defeated in the Lok Sabha on April 17. His address to the nation was actually a below the belt attack on opposition in which he deliberately misrepresented the facts showing utter disrespect of the parliamentary democracy, and its decisions. He did the same thing when he addressed election rallies in West Bengal on April 19.
He tried to show himself as champion of the women’s cause while the opposition as killer in the womb. He framed his national address to address “mothers, sisters, and daughters of the country” and said that “fight of women power has been stopped. Their dreams have ruthlessly crushed. Despite our utmost efforts, we could not succeed, the amendment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Act could not be passed!”
It was a blatant lie, and unfair to the opposition, because, it is he who put “condition apply” clause in Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2003 which delayed its implementation, and it is he who was sitting over the act and notified it now on April 16, delaying it further with the “condition apply” clause that says women’s reservation will be implemented only after government increase the seats through delimitation. This is the law his government has just notified, which means the government will not implement the women’s reservation in near future, but has blamed the opposition for it.
Prime Minister’s address to the nation degenerated from national interest to attack on opposition political parties. Though he said, “For us, national interest is paramount, but … the selfish politics of parties like Congress, DMK, TMC, and Samajwadi Party has harmed the women power of the country.” Then he went on attacking and criticizing the opposition as if it was not an address to the nation but an election rally of the BJP.
It should be noted that elections are underway in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, and a Prime Minister is using the national address on national media to campaign against the political parties and the Election Commission of India (ECI) is watching. It is yet another gross violation of the Model Code of Conduct for Election, just after notifying an act of 2023 now to influence women voters. ECI must give level playing field, and give enough time on the national media to address the voters as the Prime Minister did, rousing the sentiments of women by saying “women forget everything, but they never forget their insult.”
The question is when the opposition insulted women, or opposed women’s reservation? They rather supported the Nari Shakti Adhiniyam 2023, and demanded its immediate implementation without any string attached. It is the Prime Minister who prevented its implementation by attaching it to delimitation – first on the basis of post-Census 2026, and now in the amendment bill to Census 2011, and again reverted back to post-Census 2026, even before his amendment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023 was defeated. If any insult is there, it is actually delivered by PM Modi himself by denying immediate reservation to women, which is now their right.
On Sunday, April 19, PM Narendra Modi mounted intense campaign offensive in West Bengal against TMC and its supremo CM Mamata Banerjee. He accused Mamata anti-women referring to the fall of the introduced amendment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023. He said he wanted to increase the seats in the Lok Sabha from 543 to 850 and operationalise the women’s reservation law.
Addressing election rallies PM Modi accused TMC of conspiring with the Congress and “betraying” women by preventing the passage of the Constitution 131st Amendment Bill, 2026, and said that the women of the state should punish the Trinamool in the upcoming assembly polls. He said, “TMC has betrayed the women of Bengal one more time. The sisters of Bengal wanted 33 per cent reservation. Modi tried to ensure that. But TMC did not want more number of women from Bengal to become MPs and MLAs because they will challenge the mahajungleraaj of TMC.”
Mamata hit back and said that the Prime Minister was only showing fake sympathy for women and questioned why the Govt was not implementing the Women’s Reservation Bill already passed in 2023? She accused the Prime Minister of misleading the country and said, “It is deeply unfortunate that the Prime Minister chose to mislead the nation rather than address it honestly,” adding that the Trinamool Congress had one of the highest proportions of women representatives in Parliament and the state legislature. “The question of opposing women’s reservation does not arise and never has,” she said.
CM Mamata also criticised PM Modi, for not addressing Parliament directly, and wrote in a media post, “The next time you address the nation, have the courage to do so from the floor of parliament. … What you did yesterday was cowardly, hypocritical, and fork-tongued.” (IPA Service)
