"Only government in history to steal mangalsutras from women": Jairam Ramesh takes swipe at Modi government

New Delhi [India], January 3 (ANI): Referring to reports of a surge in gold loan NPAs, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his jibes at the party during the Lok Sabha election campaign and said his government has earned "the dubious distinction of being the only government to steal mangalsutras from women".
"At a time when the non-biological PM was scaremongering about some imagined plot to steal Mangalsutras, we had raised the issue of the rapid rise in gold loans during his tenure. An estimated Rs. 3 lakh crores in gold loans have been taken out by Indian families and are outstanding as of today. It now emerges that with rising indebtedness and a slowing economy, families are increasingly defaulting on these gold loans," Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
The Congress general secretary said the proportion of gold loan NPAs rose 30 per cent from Rs. 5,149 crore to Rs. 6,696 crore in the three months between March and June 2024.
"And these are just the formal sector gold loans - there's no estimate of how many families have taken recourse to the informal sector. When families default on these loans, they often lose the underlying gold asset - in most cases, the woman's jewelry, including the mangalsutra," the Congress leader said.
"The Modi Government's rampant cronyism, erratic policymaking, and warped priorities have earned it the dubious distinction of being the only Government in the history of Independent India to steal mangalsutras from women," he added.
PM Modi had taken jibes at Congress over its manifesto during the Lok Sabha campaign and alleged that the party would "snatch" mangalsutra and redistribute the wealth of people if it comes to power.
"Their mangalsutra, the question is not of the cost of gold in it; it is linked to her dreams of her life. You are talking of snatching it in your manifesto...will distribute gold and redistribute. When it was their government, they had said that Muslims have the first right over the country's wealth. Who will you distribute it to after collecting the wealth, distribute it to those who have more children, and distribute it to infiltrators?" PM Modi had said in an election rally in Rajasthan's Banswara. (ANI)