Congress rebuts PM, says women MPs were ‘protesting for a cause’

The Congress on Sunday (February 22, 2026) reacted sharply to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that “one can’t become Prime Minister by sending women MPs to capture the Lok Sabha seat”. Mr. Modi made the comments at a public event after inaugurating the Delhi-Meerut (in Uttar Pradesh) Rapid Rail Transit System.

“It is very unfortunate that Prime Minister forgets that Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi ji was not allowed to speak during the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address. For two days, Mr. Gandhi was not allowed to speak in Lok Sabha. Then, eight of us were suspended. Only then women MPs protested,” Congress Whip in the Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore said in a video posted on social media platform X.

“You were afraid to come to the House, Mr Prime Minister. It is not as if the women MPs, who belong to Dalit and backward classes, were misbehaving, they were protesting for a cause,” Mr. Tagore added.

The Prime Minister had “compromised the interest of farmers, MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) and textile industry” through the Indo-U.S. trade agreement over which Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers protested at the recent AI Impact Summit, Mr. Tagore said.

Former IYC chief Srinivas B.V. also defended the IYC’s “shirtless protests”, and accused the Prime Minister of playing the “victim card”.

“Did IYC claim the Chinese [robot] dog as Indian? Did IYC get stalls for fraud institutions like Galgotia? Did IYC sign an anti-India trade deal? Did IYC’s name come up in the Epstein files?” Mr. Srinivas said in a post on X.

He also asked if the IYC was responsible for the “traffic chaos and the initial mismanagement” at the AI Impact Summit.

“Such protests happen during international events all over the world, but we have never seen any head of state crying like this. Modi is not the country.. and the country’s Constitution gives the right to ask questions and protest,” Mr. Srinivas said.