My mother’s mangalsutra was sacrificed for the country: Priyanka Gandhi responds to PM Modi’s remark

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Tuesday that her mother Sonia Gandhi’s “mangalsutra was sacrificed for the sake of the country” as she responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims that the party will take away gold owned by women if voted to power.

“My mother’s mangalsutra has been sacrificed for this country,” Vadra said at a rally in Bengaluru, referring to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.

On Sunday, Modi had claimed at a rally in Rajasthan that the Congress’ manifesto talks about calculating “the amount of gold that mothers and sisters have, get information about it and then distribute that property” among Muslim “infiltrators”.

The prime minister added: “This Urban Naxal thinking will not spare even the mangalsutras of my mothers and sisters.” The term “urban Naxals” is used by BJP supporters to describe those who oppose the Modi government.

The Congress, however, dared Modi to show one paragraph in its manifesto where it talked about redistributing wealth to Muslims.

Modi was purportedly referring to remarks that Manmohan Singh made on December 9, 2006, when he addressed a meeting of the National Development Council. Singh, who was prime minister at the time, said that the country’s priorities were to uplift the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, minorities and women and children.

“We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development,” Singh had said. “They must have the first claim on resources.”

Commenting on Modi’s claim, Vadra said on Tuesday: “In the past two days, it has been claimed that the Congress will snatch away your mangalsutras and your gold. The country has been independent for 70 years, and the Congress has been in power for 55 years. Did anyone snatch your gold or mangalsutra?”

She further asserted that when the country was at war, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi “gave her gold to the country”.

Opposition, civil rights group, and several citizens have sought action against Modi for his remarks about Muslim “infiltrators”. Human rights organisation People’s Union for Civil Liberties on Monday filed a complaint with the Election Commission seeking the disqualification of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his claims.

On Monday, over 17,400 persons signed a letter by the Samvidhan Bacchao Nagrik Abhiyan alleging that Modi had “blatantly violated this code [Model Code of Conduct]” and the Representation of the People Act, 1951, by making a speech “aiming at not only appealing to ‘communal feelings’ but also instigating and aggravating hatred in the Hindus against Muslims”.

The complaints have described the prime minister’s remarks as “hate speech” and said that it was in clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

The Model Code of Conduct is a set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission for political parties and candidates to follow during poll campaigns. It sets guardrails for speeches, meetings, processions, election manifestos, polling and several other areas.