# India

Women forced to mortgage their gold jewellery under Modi govt: Kharge

Kharge said, “Narendra Modi ji, you talked about ‘stealing the mangalsutra’. That has now come true. Under your rule, women have been forced to mortgage their gold jewellery.”

Statesman News Service | New Delhi | March 5, 2025 8:07 pm

Women forced to mortgage their gold jewellery under Modi govt: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said women have been forced to “mortgage” their gold jewellery under Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.

Recalling Prime Minister’s “snatching mangalsutra” remarks during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Kharge said, “Narendra Modi ji, you talked about ‘stealing the mangalsutra’. That has now come true. Under your rule, women have been forced to mortgage their gold jewellery.”

Notably, Modi during the general elections had said that Congress wants to snatch “mangalsutra” of women as part of its intention to redistribute wealth.

“Between 2019 and 2024, four crore women have taken loans worth Rs 4.7 lakh crore by mortgaging their gold. Gold loans will account for 38 per cent of the total loans taken by women in 2024. RBI data in February 2025 showed that gold loans increased by a massive 71.3 per cent in a year,” the Congress chief said.

Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha while attacking the Prime Minister said, “First you made the women’s ‘stridhan’ disappear by implementing demonetization, now due to inflation and falling household savings, they are forced to mortgage their most valuable thing- their jewellery.”

He also accused the Prime Minister of worsening the condition of the economy to such an extent that the middle-class families who bought two-wheelers are now unable to pay their loans.