Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address nation at 8.30 pm tonight

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the nation tonight at 8:30 PM. It is likely that the Prime Minister will speak on the issue of the Women’s reservation bill which failed to pass in Parliament after the opposition blocked it.

Earlier, former Union Minister Smriti Irani lambasted the Congress and other INDIA bloc allies for failing to unite behind the move to give 33% reservation to women in Parliament.

Smriti Irani said, “The women of the country were told that the Congress party has created a dream that holds the intention of securing political rights for women. What has become of that intention after 98 years was seen yesterday by women across the country in the nation’s Parliament. The Congress party smiled, thumped desks, and celebrated politically yesterday as they crushed the aspirations of the nation’s political awakening”.

“But for the BJP, this is not just a struggle for power; it is a fight for the right to equality. Women will remember that during six decades of Congress rule, 11 crore women in this country were deprived of access to toilets. Women will remember that 25 crore women were denied the support to open bank accounts. Women will remember that under BJP-NDA, the first gender budget framework was introduced”.

#WATCH | Delhi: On the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill failed to pass in the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha MP Sudha Murty says, “I feel sad. It was one good chance for women to become a part of policymaking. I hope that one day it will happen. Any social change requires time…” pic.twitter.com/2UtXZSzFqc

— ANI (@ANI) April 18, 2026

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The BJP leader said that the Congress’ real face was now exposed before the women of the country. “Congress and its supporting parties celebrated the fact that the struggling political women of this country, who have been working for years and were merely demanding 33% rights. They were immersed in the celebration of how to deny those women their rights by breaking their dignity, and how to win the battle in Parliament”.

“Today, in the Congress press conference, a jibe was made that some people in the BJP tried to play the messiah. I’m stunned that in the Congress press conference, it was stated that they support the bill passed in 2023, which mentions delimitation. But look at Congress’s hypocrisy–they also say together that they don’t have faith in the committee and the arrangement for delimitation. Congress has no faith in the country’s constitutional arrangement, in Parliament, or in the women of the country. Congress has exposed its cruel face in front of the women of the country,” she said.

On Friday, the BJP-led government failed to secure the required two-thirds majority to pass the amendment bill. In the Lok Sabha voting, 298 members supported the bill while 230 opposed it. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla confirmed that the bill did not pass. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the Centre would not proceed with the remaining interlinked legislations.

While Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the opposition of blocking women’s reservation, opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, maintained that they support the quota but oppose its linkage with delimitation.

“Yesterday in Parliament, they came up with a new Bill. They said it was a Women’s Bill, but that was already passed in 2023. The hidden agenda behind that Bill was delimitation. The idea was to reduce Tamil Nadu’s representation in the Parliament of India and weaken southern and smaller states. We defeated that Bill in Parliament yesterday,” he said during a campaign rally in Ponneri, Tamil Nadu.

Outlining his broader political position, he said India is a “union of states” where each state must have equal space. “Every state should have a voice in the Union and should be free to express its language and protect its tradition.”

Meanwhile, the BJP and its allies are continuing their street protest against the Congress and the INDIA bloc alleging that the alliance was anti-women and did not want to see the women of the country go forward. (ANI)