19 April,2026 12:09 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation on Saturday. PIC/PTI
The opposition in Maharashtra on Saturday strongly criticised Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi's address to the nation, alleging that it was filled with "false claims" and that he made no mention of delinking delimitation from women's reservation, news agency PTI reported.
Congress leaders Harshwardhan Sapkal and Nana Patole, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) legislator Rohit Pawar, and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said PM Modi's speech for mainly focusing on attacking rival parties.
Sapkal, who is the state Congress chief, claimed that the speech was full of "propaganda" and "false claims" targeting the Congress. In a statement, he said that instead of addressing key national issues, PM Modi devoted a significant portion of his 30-minute address to attacking the Congress, mentioning the party 58 times.
Sapkal rejected the PM's assertion that the Congress had opposed initiatives such as the JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) trinity and the Goods and Services Tax (GST). He said Aadhaar was launched in 2010 in Maharashtra's Nandurbar under the leadership of former PM Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.
He further claimed that the GST framework was advanced under the Congress-led government and alleged that Modi, as Gujarat chief minister at the time, had opposed it.
The Congress leader also demanded immediate implementation of the 'Nari Shakti Vandan Act', which was passed in September 2023 with support from Opposition parties. He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government of "misleading" women on the reservation issue and demanded that the PM apologise to them.
Patole claimed that reactions on social media during the PM's address showed widespread public dissatisfaction, with a majority of people being critical of him. The Congress leader said the PM appeared "angry" during his speech and questioned the government's handling of the women's quota bill.
Pawar, meanwhile, stated that no one in the world is as skilled as the BJP at turning their defeats into political advantage.
"Today's speech, which is miles away from the truth, looks like nothing but an attempt to cash in on yesterday's defeat," he alleged.
The NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) legislator claimed that the 'lotus (BJP symbol)' would not bloom in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. He added that after hearing the three major Opposition parties mentioned four times each in the speech, his belief had become stronger that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) would return to power in Tamil Nadu, Trinamool Congress (TMC) would form the government in West Bengal, and the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Congress alliance would win in Uttar Pradesh in 2027. Pawar predicted that by 2029, the country would side with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc once again.
Meanwhile, Chaturvedi expressed disappointment that PM Modi gave no assurance to women regarding delinking the 2023 Act from the Census and delimitation, which would have made it implementable from 2029 itself. In a post on X, she said it was disappointing that the national broadcaster was used to attack TMC and DMK, both of which are in direct electoral battle with the BJP and its allies.
Modi, in his address to the nation on Saturday - a day after the bill to implement 33 per cent women's reservation in legislatures was defeated in the Lok Sabha - had said that Opposition parties such as the Congress, DMK, TMC, and SP had "mercilessly crushed" the dreams of women by blocking the bill.
(With PTI inputs)
