"Even after all these years of independence, justice has not been done to women's power, this country cannot develop rapidly without the full participation of half the country's population", he said.

AHMEDABAD: The opposition tried to classify women into different classes but eventually surrendered to the power of women, Prime Minister Modi slammed the opposition over the Women's Reservation Bill, on his two-day visit to home state of Gujarat.

Modi was greeted warmly by the BJP's women cadre and "Women of Gujarat” in Ahmedabad on Tuesday evening. He spoke to a group of women about the Women's Reservation Bill, which was approved by both Houses of Parliament last week.

He said, “Even those who held this bill up for years had to support it because of your (women's) fear. It was the women's strength that compelled them. They utilize ifs and buts in their assertions, and they make many excuses.”

“These people have attempted to separate women into different classes and to diminish women's strength. But when they realized that this government was not going to back down, when they realized that the women of the country were watching what was going on inside the parliament, they were compelled to vote in favor of this Law against their choice", he said.

Attacking the opposition, he stated that "even after all these years of independence, justice has not been done to women's power, and this country cannot develop rapidly without the full participation of half the country's population." Before discussing women's rights, political excuses were made, such as women being unable to do all of the jobs.

Concerning the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Act’, he stated that “women must get representation from Legislative Assembly as well as the Lok Sabha, increasing women's representation is Modi's guarantee.”

Speaking about Gujarat's long history of women's empowerment, he stated, "Since beginning the fight against anti-women ideology in Gujarat, we have run many successful campaigns in the direction of women's empowerment in Gujarat at all three levels - family, society, and state."

Talking about enhancing women's presence in politics, he stated, "I started the Samaras Mahila Panchayat experiment to increase the representation of women at all levels,"