West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | Modi hails high voter turnout in Bengal, dubs Cong, SP ‘anti-women’

Lucknow: Prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday hailed the high voter turnout in the Bengal assembly polls saying that the state had not witnessed such a massive turnout in decades even as he continued his attack on the opposition parties for not supporting the Women’s quota Bill in the Lok Sabha and termed them as ‘anti-women’.

‘’Like the first phase, the people of Bengal have been exercising their franchise in large numbers in the second phase of polling…..pictures of long queues of voters have flooded the social media….it was difficult to imagine such a thing in the past 6-7 decades….people have been voting without fear,’’ Modi said while addressing a public meeting after inaugurating the Ganga Expressway, Uttar Pradesh’s longest E-way, in Hardoi.

The second phase of polling in Bengal took place on Wednesday. 

Modi continued his attack on the opposition parties for voting against the delimitation-linked Women’s quota Bill in the Lok Sabha and singled out the Samajwadi Party (SP) in his speech.

‘’SP is not only anti-development but also anti-women…SP voted against the quota Bill and supported a party (DMK), which used derogatory words for UP….the SP members reach the Parliament by your votes but they side with the parties which thrive on abusing UP,’’ he added.

‘’The country recently witnessed the anti-women face of Congress and SP…..a large number of women would have reached Lok Sabha and the assemblies had the Women’s quota Billa been passed,’’ he said.

Modi also referred, indirectly, to the ongoing wars in different parts of the world and said that the world faced instability and chaos but India had been making steady progress. ‘’India’s enemies are unable to digest this success….some people, sitting inside the country, are also trying to demean India,’’ he added.

Earlier the prime minister inaugurated the state’s longest, 594 kilomtere long Ganga Expressway which would connect Meerut in the west and Prayagraj in the east. It would traverse through  twelve districts and would reduce the travel time between the town from the current 11 hours to around six-seven hours. The E-way has been constructed at a cost of Rs 36320 crore.

Modi said that the Expressway would be extended to Haridwar in Uttarakhand in the near future.