PM Modi's 'Mangalsutra' Remark: Did Indira Gandhi Donate Gold For India's Cause? Here's What Congress Says
Priyanka Gandhi had slammed PM Modi's 'mangalsutra' remark saying her grandmother and former PM Indira Gandhi had donated her gold for the nation's cause.
A fresh Congress-versus-Bharatiya Janata Party war erupted this week amid the Lok Sabha election season after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the grand old party would snatch the 'mangalsutra' of Hindu women and distribute their wealth among Muslims. PM Modi claimed that his predecessor Manmohan Singh had said Muslims had the first claim on the country's resources and reflecting the same, the Congress had mentioned in its manifesto that it would survey the property of Hindus and redistribute their wealth among Muslims, whom he seemed to be referring to as 'intruders' in a poll address in Rajasthan on Sunday.
Reacting to PM Modi's claim, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi fired back saying that her mother had sacrificed her 'mangalsutra' for the nation. She was referring to her father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.
Priyanka also said her grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had donated her gold (jewellery) to India's cause in dire times when India was at war. She slammed PM Modi, saying that he should not forget the Gandhis' and Congress's sacrifices for the nation.
कांग्रेस ने 55 साल में क्या किसी का सोना या मंगलसूत्र छीना? जब देश युद्ध लड़ रहा था, इंदिरा जी ने अपना मंगलसूत्र व गहने दान किए। लाखों महिलाओं ने इस देश के लिए अपने मंगलसूत्र कुर्बान किए। जब मेरी बहनों को नोटबंदी में अपने मंगलसूत्र गिरवी रखने पड़े, तब प्रधानमंत्री जी कहां थे? जब… pic.twitter.com/E5cfHZoJRR
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) April 23, 2024
Addressing a poll rally in Rajasthan's Banswara on Sunday, Modi made a reference to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's alleged statement regarding the minority community's claim on the country's resources
"This urban-naxal mindset, my mothers and sisters, they will not even leave your 'Mangalsutra'. They can go to that level," Modi said in his address.
He further said: "The Congress manifesto says they will calculate the gold with mothers and sisters, get information about it and then distribute that property. They will distribute it to whom - Manmohan Singh's government had said that Muslims have the first right on the country's assets."
कांग्रेस की अर्बन नक्सल सोच की नजर अब मेरी माताओं-बहनों के मंगलसूत्र पर है। क्या ऐसी कांग्रेस पर मेरे परिवारजन कभी भरोसा करेंगे। pic.twitter.com/sdPRObgbha
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 21, 2024
When Indira Gandhi Donated Her Jewellery To Fund India-China War
In November 1962, the Chinese People's Liberation Army waged a war against an unprepared and underfunded India as the Chinese troops dominated from the region of Chushul in Ladakh to Walong in the north-eastern part of the country. In order to fight the troops, the Jawaharlal Nehru government broadcast ad films calling on women of India to donate their pieces of jewellery for the cause while also urging people to donate money and woollens.
It was after this call by Nehru that his daughter and, later Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, also donated her jewellery to the effort. This is what Priyanka Gandhi referred to in her speech on Tuesday.
"At the time of Chinese aggression in 1962, Smt. Indira Gandhi came forward and dedicated all her jewellery to the country," reads an article hosted on the Congress's website and titled 'Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru: The most Generous of the Generous family' authored by Shashi Kumar Singh.
The 1962 India-China war came to an end after Beijing withdrew. But a bigger tragedy is that many gold ornaments and jewellery donated five decades ago still lie forgotten in the vaults of the Reserve Bank of India to date, according to a report by Scroll.
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