PM Modi should be ashamed, he has no understanding of struggling women, says Priyanka

Addressing election rallies in Karnataka on Tuesday, 23 April, Congress general secretary refuted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charge that a Congress government would snatch even the ‘mangalsutra’, put on by Hindu women when they marry.

The last attempt of PM Modi to get votes is polarising the majority community by fear-mongering, she said before asking, “I fail to understand where was Modi when hundreds of ‘mangalsutras’ were being lost because of the violence in Manipur.”

The price of gold has surged under BJP rule, making mangalsutras unaffordable for many, she pointed out and asked who was responsible. Women pawn their jewellery and even their mangalsutras, she reminded the Prime Minister, when they are in distress. They sell or mortgage their jewellery when there is a medical emergency in the family or when there is a wedding, she recalled in a scathing rebuttal of the PM.

“These people (BJP) 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 jewels," she underlined.

"The women do not sleep until everyone is asleep in the family and when there is trouble in the family, women mortgage their ornaments," she said. "Women will prefer sleeping hungry rather than letting others sleep on an empty stomach."

Priyanka condemned Modi's silence on various social and economic hardships faced by women, such as during the demonetisation period and the COVID-19 lockdowns.

“During the farmers’ agitation, 600 farmers died. Did Modi give a thought on the mangalsutra of those women? When a woman was paraded naked in Manipur before the entire nation, why was Modi silent and not think of her mangalsutra?” Priyanka asked.

PM Modi, she asserted, was resorting to dramatic statements to divert attention from pressing issues.

“When there was war, Indira Gandhi (her grandmother and former prime minister) donated her gold."

She further said, "My mother’s mangalsutra was sacrificed for this country," referring to the assassination of her father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by terrorists.

“Had Narendra Modi understood the importance of mangalsutra, he would not have spoken such unethical things," she added.

“Today, only for the election you are talking about women like this, only to scare them to get their votes," she said, directing her remarks at Modi. "He should be ashamed,” she added.

She urged voters to reject divisive rhetoric and instead support a government committed to truth, ethics, and benevolent governance.

“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.

“This country has been free for the past 75 years, and for 55 of those years Congress was in power. Did Congress ever snatch your gold or mangalsutra?,” she asked the gathering.

With inputs from PTI.