Bengaluru: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday (April 23) said that Sonia Gandhi has sacrificed her “mangalsutra” for the country and that Indira Gandhi has given her gold to the country in the war, while responding to the repeated allegations levelled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“My mother’s mangalsutra has been sacrificed for this country,” Gandhi said in a Congress rally in HSR Layout, which falls under the Bengaluru South constituency.
“And PM Modi is saying the Congress party will snatch away your mangalsutra and gold. The Congress government has been in power for 55 years. Did anyone snatch your gold and mangalsutra from you?” Gandhi asked while targeting Modi for his “mangalsutra” jibe.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
The sacrifice Gandhi was referring to was the assassination of her father, former PM Rajiv Gandhi, in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in 1991 by Tamil militants of the LTTE.
His wife, Sonia Gandhi, became a widow at the age of 45.
Speaking about the sacrifices made by her family, Gandhi further said, “Indira Gandhi ji had given her gold to the country in the war”.
Modi on Sunday in Banswada in Rajasthan made several misleading statements, including that the Congress intended to “redistribute” the “land”, “property” as well as “mangalsutras of mothers and sisters” to Muslims, those who have more children and who are infiltrators.
The Election Commission has been condemned widely for its inability to call out the obvious violations of the model code of conduct.
Earlier today in Rajasthan’s Jalore, Narendra Modi continued to target the Congress and allege that the party intends to give the reservation for Dalits, backwards and tribals to Muslims on the grounds of religion.
Visibly hit by the pushback to several BJP and RSS leaders consistently saying they want “400 seats” to amend the constitution, which large sections of OBCs and Dalits are interpreting and opposing as an attack on reservations if the BJP comes back to power, Modi said that in light of the Congress’s conspiracies, Modi is giving a guarantee that he won’t let Dalit, OBC and tribal reservations be ended in the name of religion.