In this screengrab from a video posted on April 18, 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, in Coimbatore. | Photo Credit: @NarendraModi/YT via PTI Photo

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said his government's women's reservation bill was a noble effort that got 'derailed' due to the DMK and Congress which made it a "target of hatred and petty politics." Especially targeting the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu and the Congress over the amendment bill being defeated in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the PM asked, "Why does it trouble DMK, Congress to see ordinary women rise." He said he had personally appealed to the opposition parties to support the bill and even offered to give them credit as "I only wanted sisters from ordinary families to come to parliament, assemblies in good numbers." "But unfortunately, this noble effort got derailed. DMK, Congress and their allies made it a target of hatred and petty politics," he charged.

Had this bill been passed, many Tamil women from ordinary families would have become MPs and MLAs. Based on 2011 census, Tamil Nadu was going to get so many more seats in Lok Sabha, "but clearly DMK didn't want this to happen," he said, addressing a poll rally here.

"Why does it trouble DMK, Congress to see ordinary women rise? These one family parties want power to be confined in their own family," he alleged, in an apparent reference to the Congress and DMK.

He appealed to women of Tamil Nadu to ask DMK why they opposed the bill meant to ensure their representation, why they "denied Tamil women this golden opportunity." "On April 23 give them a clear, powerful message," he said about polling day.

Published on April 18, 2026