Modi's Address to Nation After Bill's Defeat 'Cheap Political Statement', Says MP John Brittas

New Delhi: CPI(M) Rajya Sabha party leader John Brittas has sharply condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation following the defeat of the 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha, calling it a cheap and unworthy political statement made in a fit of vengeance after the government's anti-democratic bills were voted down.

Brittas said it was the first time in Indian history that a Prime Minister had used a national address — a privilege accorded to the office for matters of national importance — to level petty and baseless political accusations against the opposition. "When the bill was defeated yesterday, the Prime Minister could have spoken in Parliament itself. Even today, when both Houses were in session, he had every opportunity to make his case on the floor of the House. Instead, he chose to misuse the special privilege of addressing the nation to make a thoroughly undignified statement," Brittas said.

He also pointed out that the statement was targeted specifically at West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, which he said clearly exposed the government's electoral rather than legislative motivations behind the entire exercise.

The 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill, the Delimitation Bill, and the Union Territory Law Amendment Bill had all been introduced during the special session of Parliament. The amendment bill, which proposed implementing 33 per cent women's reservation while simultaneously increasing Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 816 — a move widely seen as designed to weaken southern states' political representation — was defeated after nearly 22 hours of debate, with 298 members voting in favour and 230 against out of 528 who voted.

The Lok Sabha defeat was a heavy blow to a government that had grown arrogant in its use of its parliamentary majority to push through legislation at will, and Modi's reaction only confirmed that the real agenda had been electoral gain, not women's empowerment.