Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Congress will snatch your gold and mangalsutra and give it to select people’ statement he made during a rally in Rajasthan. Gandhi said that BJP has no idea about the struggle of women and recalled her mother, Sonia Gandhi’s sacrifice for the country.
“What talks are happening in this country? Two days back there were speeches that Congress wants to snatch your 'mangalsutra'. This country has been free for the past 75 years, and 55 years Congress was in power. Did Congress ever snatch your gold or 'mangalsutra'?,” she asked at a rally in Bengaluru.
Modi had said during his rallies that Congress would snatch the hard-earned money of the people and give it away to “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”. He said they would steal the gold of mothers and sisters if they came to power.
“When there was war, Indira Gandhi donated her gold," said Gandhi in a reference to her grandmother and former prime minister. "My mother’s 'mangalsutra' was sacrificed for this country," said Gandhi, referring to the assassination of her father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by Sri Lankan Tamil extremists in 1991.
“Had Narendra Modi understood the importance of 'mangalsutra', he would not have spoken such unethical things," she added.
Gandhi lauded the role women play and the sacrifices they make in a family. She said women are the last ones to sleep in a family, the ones to mortgage their ornaments when the family is in trouble, the ones to sleep in hunger in order to offer sufficient food to the other family members.
“These people do not know her struggle. When the farmer is in debt, his wife mortgages her mangalsutra. When there is a daughter's marriage or health problems in the family, the woman mortgages her jewellery," she said.
Priyanka Gandhi asked where was Modi when all the savings of the women were taken away to be deposited in the banks because of demonetisation. She asked where he was when migrant workers were stuck in many cities due to COVID-19 lockdowns without food and women had to mortgage their jewellery. Gandhi asked if Modi spared a thought for the ‘mangalsutra’ of the 600 farmers who died in the farmers' agitation. “When a woman was paraded naked in Manipur before the entire nation, why was Modi silent and not thinking of her mangalsutra?” Priyanka Gandhi asked.
She accused Modi of scaring women in order to get their votes. "He should be ashamed,” the Congress leader said.
“You have to decide whether you want ‘naitik rajniti’ (politics of ethics) or ‘natak rajniti’ (politics of drama); ‘satta ki rajniti’ (power politics) or ‘satya ki rajniti’ (politics of truth); ‘paropakar’ (beneficence) or ‘ahamkar’ (ego),” the Congress general secretary said.
Lamenting at the “cheap talks” going on in the country, Gandhi said that there is a list of enormous problems. She urged her voters to “wake up” and vote accordingly.