4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Apr 19, 2026 11:54 AM IST
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Opposition of committing female foeticide, after the Women’s Reservation Bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Saturday hit back at the PM, calling him “desperate”, and “frustrated”.
Over a post on X, Kharge accused PM Modi of misusing the Model Code of Conduct, and turning a national address into a “political speech”, filled with “mudslinging, and outright LIES”, where he chose to blame the Congress “for his own failures, his own betrayal, and his own apathy”. “Modi ji mentioned Congress 59 times and women barely few times. That tells the country everything about his priorities. Women are not the BJP’s priority. Congress is, because Congress stands on the right side of history.”
Kharge’s comments came hours after the prime minister accused the Opposition parties of “committing a sin” by opposing the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lower House, and said they’d be punished for the same. “Parties like Congress, DMK, TMC and Samajwadi Party have committed ‘bhroon hatya’ (foeticide) by defeating bill on women reservation,” Modi said in his speech on Saturday.
A desperate and frustrated PM @narendramodi 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. The Model Code of Conduct is already in place and it was very clear how PM…
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) April 18, 2026
He also called Congress an “anti-reform party”, alleging they learnt the divide-and-rule tactic from the British. Modi also targeted Congress for spreading lies about delimitation, saying, “Congress has always believed in politics of dividing people, so they spread falsehood about North-South divide.”
Rejecting Modi’s claims, and highlighting Congress’ committment towards women’s representation in Parliament and state Assemblies, Kharge said: “Congress has always supported women’s reservation. We were the party that passed the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 so that it would not lapse. The BJP could not get that Bill passed in the Lok Sabha. They brought another Bill in 2023 and the Congress Party supported that too… The fact that it took the BJP 3 years to notify their own bill, shows their commitment to India’s Naari Shakti!”
He also urged PM Modi to stop lying to the nation, and provided a 3-point advisory, including immediate restrain on compiling the three Constitution amendment Bills with the Women’s Reservation Bill, as well as offering an apology to all Indian citizens.
Kharge wrote in his post: “Stop lying to the nation that this was an amendment to the Women’s Reservation Bill — the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. It was NOT. This was purely a delimitation Bill, brought in to create further division and redraw the electoral map in a manner that can only benefit the BJP.”
Further clarifying his stances, Kharge underlined the efforts of his party towards women empowerment throughout Indian history, including the Hindu Code Bills, workplace sexual harassment laws, domestic violence Bills, and criminal law reforms.
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The party president also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being “anti-women in both action and attitude.”
“They have no answers for Hathras. They have no answers for Unnao. They have no answers for the treatment of Haryana’s women wrestlers. They have shielded rapists within their own party. They released the rapists in the Bilkis Bano case. They have garlanded criminals and rapists. The NCRB data itself shows that crimes against women are highest in BJP-ruled states,” he wrote.
Lastly, Kharge accused the BJP’s coalition with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in dividing the nation: “Every Indian knows that ModiJis political masters — RSS are against WOMEN. They believe in Manusmriti, which encourages DIVISION, and NOT the Constitution of India.”
