In an electrifying speech in Bengaluru, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra fired back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent remarks at a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara, where he suggested that the Congress party intended to redistribute people’s personal wealth, including women’s ‘mangalsutras’, to “infiltrators” and those with large families.
How did Priyanka Gandhi respond?
Addressing a crowd in the Bangalore South constituency, where Congress has fielded Sowmya Reddy against BJP’s Tejasvi Surya, Priyanka Gandhi leveraged this moment to underscore her family’s legacy and criticize the Modi government’s approach to women’s issues and economic policy.
“Did any Congress leader or partyman ever steal your mangalsutra or gold in the 55 years of our governance?” Priyanka Gandhi questioned the gathering, making a poignant reference to her family’s personal losses and contributions to the nation.
“My grandmother, Indira Gandhi, donated her gold to aid the country during wars. My mother’s mangalsutra was sacrificed for this country,” she declared, invoking the assassination of her father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, to highlight the gravity of her statement
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Turning her focus to the BJP, Priyanka Gandhi accused the ruling party of misunderstanding the struggles of Indian women. “The truth is, they do not understand women’s struggles. For the sake of her household, a woman will pledge her gold but they won’t understand this,” she added.
The Congress leader did not stop there; she criticized the central government’s handling of various crises, from the Covid-19 lockdown to the farmers’ protests, questioning the Prime Minister’s concern for women’s jewelry in light of these challenges.
“Where was Modi when demonetisation took away the savings of people? When 600 farmers died during the protests, did Modi think of the mangal sutras of their widows?” she challenged, presenting her point about misplaced priorities.
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
The fiery speech also included a rebuttal to Modi’s policies, which Priyanka argued, favored the wealthy at the expense of smaller enterprises and common people. “The government didn’t work for you in these last 10 years. All policies were made for the PM’s selected rich friends,” she alleged, promising a different approach if her party were elected.
Bengaluru, a key battleground in the upcoming elections with voting slated for August 26, 2024, in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections, witnessed a day charged with political tension. Priyanka Gandhi’s words not only defended her party’s legacy but also threw a direct challenge to the narratives propagated by the BJP, setting the stage for what is expected to be a closely contested election in this significant constituency.
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