The Congress party's general secretary for communications, Jairam Ramesh, sharply criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent national address, describing it as a 'distress address' rather than a genuine effort to unite the country. Ramesh challenged Modi to bring forth a bill in Parliament to implement women's reservation, following the defeat of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which sought to allocate 33% of legislative seats for women by increasing Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 816. The bill was defeated with 298 votes in favor and 230 against, falling short of the required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority. Ramesh accused Modi of hypocrisy and dishonesty regarding his commitment to women's representation, asserting that the Congress party's stance on immediate implementation of women's reservation has remained unchanged. The Congress claims that Modi's attempts to link women's reservation to a delimitation proposal are an insidious effort to undermine democracy and the Constitution.