Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday hit out at the Opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party, the Congress and other INDIA bloc partners like the DMK and the TMC, for opposing the Nari Shakti Vandan Amendment Bill in Parliament on April 17, accusing them of an “anti-women mindset” and changing their colours like chameleons.
Claiming that the Opposition used religious reservation as a base to deprive women of their rights, he underlined that there is no greater betrayal of the nation than this.
Speaking in the state assembly during the day-long special session on women’s empowerment, the chief minister said, “By opposing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam Amendment Bill, the Opposition attempted to obstruct the political rights of women and diverted attention from the core objective by raising the issue of religious reservation.”
“Your (Opposition) intent has come to light. You made religious reservation the base in keeping women deprived of their rights. I think there can be no bigger betrayal to the country than this. We condemn this act,” he said.
He stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party has always supported reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes, but has consistently opposed reservation based on religion and will continue to do so.
He added that the country has witnessed the tragedy of the Partition of India, and it is the duty of every responsible political party to ensure such circumstances do not arise again. The BJP, he said, will continue to fulfill its national responsibilities.
He warned the SP it would meet the same fate as the Congress, which has been out of power in Uttar Pradesh since 1989.
Criticising the SP for major crimes during its rule, Adityanath asserted, “You seek to divide society along caste lines.”
Raising the 1995 “guest house incident,” Adityanath said, “If I speak about the Samajwadi Party, everyone remembers the 1995 state guest house incident involving the state’s Dalit CM. The BJP supported the BSP leader and Dalit daughter. It was BJP’s Brahm Dutt Dwivedi who risked his life to fight the Samajwadi Party goons to save her at the guest house.”
Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, Yogi declared, “You must remember this, you are all cursed by the collective wrath of women. Forty years have passed, and the Congress party has become like a barren wasteland in Uttar Pradesh. During the Shah Bano case, the Congress bowed to the clerics; had they not engaged in such conduct, they would not have met with this ignominious fate.”
Adityanath remarked that in the past, a slogan had gained currency in Uttar Pradesh: “Dekh ke sapai beti ghabrai (women tremble with fear at the sight of an SP member).”
“How the Samajwadi Party bowed down before a goon, a mafia, when Raju Pal was murdered. You people could not even wipe the tears from Pooja Pal’s eyes. You divide society in the name of caste, but your sympathy is not really towards women, backward classes, or extremely backward classes. The State Guest House incident, the Pooja Pal case and many such examples are there…” he added.
Sharing statistics, Yogi said in parliament women’s participation is 15% and in the UP legislative assembly it is 12%.
“If we raise it to 33% mandatorily and add a few more women members, the percentage will reach 35 for women in the UP legislature,” he said.
“However, the SP and Congress have opposed all steps for women’s empowerment and dignity. You have seen this recently in Parliament where the TMC, SP, the Congress and the DMK opposed women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha, yet have come here demanding it. They (opposition) changed their colours like chameleons,” he said, adding women’s reservation isn’t just an economic initiative but meant to ensure participation of women in policy making.
Adityanath claimed that crimes against women in the state have decreased and noted that women’s workforce participation has surged from 13% to 36% over the past nine years.
Furthermore, he highlighted that Uttar Pradesh’s economy has tripled in size.
“In UP, participation of the women workforce is 36% from the earlier 13%. The per capita income is (up) three times and this is because of the increase in women’s participation in the workforce,” he said.
He proceeded to outline the various schemes launched across the country over the last 12 years under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, specifically aimed at the development and uplift of women.
He said that it is ironic that the SP, Congress, and the INDIA bloc “have consistently opposed the progressive measures aimed at ensuring the participation of half the population”. Women across the country are outraged by the actions taken by the Congress, SP, TMC, DMK and other opposition parties on April 17, he said.
Adityanath called upon the House to identify those “who act as impediments” to women’s self-reliance and empowerment.
The CM said the Jan Dhan bank accounts were the first initiative for women to ensure money under various schemes wasn’t looted through commission but reached women directly.
The country saw the opening of 30 crore bank accounts for women and you made a mockery of the effort, he said.
“You kept asking where is ₹15 lakh, and all these bank accounts saw money coming to women of the country under various schemes. Next came the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and toilets for every house,” the chief minister said.
“UP had a target of 2.61 crore toilets and the SP made 41 lakh in 2.5 years of the scheme’s first phase. When we came in 2017, over 2 crore toilets were made. In fact, you (SP) were never serious about women’s empowerment. Toilets were for the dignity of women who earlier had to sit for hours along roads while SP goons roamed around. You are demanding 33% reservation here now, why then did you oppose it there (in parliament),” the chief minister said.
Stating that UP has given PM Awas to 65 lakh families, he said, “In the first phase of the PM Awas Yojna under SP rule, no houses were made while in the past nine years, we gave it to 65 lakh families and a large number of these houses are in name of the woman of the family. The CM mass marriage scheme for the poor was launched so that families do not have to worry about the expense.”
“The PM Stand-Up India scheme, PM Start-Up scheme and PM Digital India scheme were all focused on women. UP has 20,000 start-ups and half of them are being run by women. The Congress didn’t allow father to give his daughter an LPG cylinder in marriage while 10 crore free cylinders have been given in the country now and 80 crore families are getting free ration. About three crore women are on the path of economic empowerment via the Lakhpati Didi scheme.”
The Constitutional 131st Amendment Bill — aimed at fast-tracking 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies from 2029 and increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 — failed to pass in the Lok Sabha on April 17.
During the division of votes on the “Constitution (131st) Amendment Bill, 2026” in the Lower House, 298 votes were cast in favour, while 230 were cast against it.
A two-thirds majority of members present and voting is required in the Lok Sabha to pass a Constitutional Amendment Bill. To secure its passage, the support of 352 out of the total 528 members was required.While the BJP has blamed the opposition for stalling women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures, the opposition has maintained that it was only against delimitation.
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