Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: In a fierce retort to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who accused her party of going after women’s jewellery, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday said her mother’s mangalsutra was “sacrificed” for the nation.
Priyanka chose the Bangalore South constituency, where her party has fielded Sowmya Reddy against BJP’s Tejasvi Surya, to respond to Modi’s claim that Congress wants to snatch "mangalsutras" from women.
“This country has been independent for 70 years and Congress was in power for 55 years. Did anyone snatch your mangal sutra or gold? Indira Gandhi gave her gold to the country during the war. My mother's (Sonia Gandhi) mangal sutra was sacrificed for this country,” Priyanka said at a campaign rally here, referring to her father Rajeev Gandhi’s assassination.
Priyanka said the BJP had no understanding of the struggles women undergo. “For the sake of her household, a woman will pledge her gold. But they won’t understand this,” she said.
"If Modi knew the value of mangal sutra, he'd not have spoken like that,” Priyanka said, adding that, “When a farmer becomes indebted, his wife will pledge her mangal sutra. She’ll pledge it for her children's wedding or to buy medicines."
Priyanka went on to double down on Modi for his barb. “Where was Modi when demonetisation took away the savings of people? Where was Modi when the Covid-19 lockdown was imposed without any intimation and women suffered?” she said.
Raking up the farmers’ protests, Priyank said: “When 600 farmers died, did Modi think of the mangal sutras of their widows?”
She also linked the Manipur violence to Modi’s comments. "When a Manipur woman was paraded naked before the world, Modi was silent. What about her mangal sutra?" she said.
Priyanka accused Modi of "talking about everything, but not people’s problems" and urged voters to decide based on their own "lived reality".
“What did you get from 10 years of the Modi government? Was there any betterment in your lives? An image of Superman was shown to you everyday. But you got a Mehangai-man,” Priyanka said. “The truth is that in 10 years, the government didn’t work for you. All policies were made for the PM’s select rich friends,” she said, adding that, "Small, medium and other enterprises who aren't PM's friends got nothing.”