'Insult meted out to Nari Shakti will never be forgiven': Jaishankar lambasts Oppn after Constitutional Amendment Bill defeat in LS

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar lambasted the opposition, including Congress, TMC, DMK and Samajwadi Party, after the Constitution Amendment Bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha, saying that the "insult meted out today to Nari Shakti will never be forgiven."

"Today, we all saw the true face of Congress, TMC, DMK and Samajwadi Party. By blocking the Constitutional Amendment that would reserve one-third of seats in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, they have denied women their legitimate rights. The nation is watching, and so are its women. The insult meted out today to Nari Shakti will never be forgiven,"Jaishankar said in a post on X on Friday.



Slamming the opposition, BJP MP Naresh Bansal said women of the country will never forgive the opposition and the Congress.

"The opposition's stubbornness and actions against women's reservation prove that the opposition alliance led by Congress is anti-women... The government, with full intention, wants to empower half the population of the country by giving them 33% reservation in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, while women have been empowered socially and economically, they should also be empowered politically; this was an effort which has been stopped by the opposition for now, but the women of the country will never forgive the opposition and the Congress," the BJP MP told ANI.

Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, "It is a very sad moment for the women of India and all the lovers of democracy that to stop the rights of women, the Congress party, just by opposing the BJP, Prime Minister Modi, strangled the rights of women's power... Prime Minister Modi, the BJP, NDA were in favour of giving rights to women, but the Congress party stopped it in one way or the other... The women of the country will never forgive them for this historic mistake."

The Constitution Amendment Bill for the implementation of Women's Reservation from the 2029 general elections was defeated in the Lok Sabha on Friday, with the opposition parties voting against it.

A Constitution Amendment Bill is passed if it gets the support of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting.

In the division that took place following the debate on the three bills, 298 members supported the bill while 230 voted against it.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla announced the results of the division."The Constitution (131st Amendment) Amendment Bill did not pass as it did not achieve a 2/3 majority during voting in the House," he said.