In Kerala, Modi targets Left, Cong for 'delay' in women's bill passage

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday attacked the CPI(M) and the Congress for delaying the passage of the women's reservation bill, while asserting that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fulfilled its promise to women by passing the Nari Shakti Vandan Bill through both houses of Parliament.

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Modi made the comments at a BJP women's convention in Kerala's Thrissur, on the concluding day of a two-day trip to southern India. Before travelling to Kerala on Wednesday afternoon, he spent the morning opening projects in Lakshadweep. On Tuesday, he inaugurated several infrastructure schemes in Tamil Nadu apart from inaugurating the Tiruchirapalli international airport.

Speaking in Thrissur, Modi said that the CPI(M), which heads the coalition that is in power in Kerala, and the Congress, the principal Opposition in the state, had both kept the issue of women's reservation hanging for decades. "But the Modi government fulfilled the promise made to women to grant them the right of reservation in Parliament and assemblies. Nari Shakti Vandan is today a law that has been passed by both houses of Parliament. Similarly, Muslim women suffered under the yoke of triple talaq under Congress and Left governments. We promised to free the women from triple talaq and we fulfilled that promise."