Rama Krishna Sangem
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on April 29, Monday said if voted to power his party will provide cashless insurance of up to Rs 25 lakh so that no woman has to sell her ‘mangalsutra’, an apparent retort to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s allegation that the Opposition party will divert people’s wealth to “infiltrators”.
Addressing a public rally in Patan, Gujarat, Gandhi said, “In India, which is facing the extremes of inflation and unemployment, every year more than 60 million people are pushed into the abyss of poverty due to a mere ‘medical bill’.
Due to expensive treatment, expensive tests and expensive medicines, the common man gets trapped in a cycle of debt and interest from which it takes him years to get out. Our resolve is that we will free every Indian from this cycle of insecurity by providing free treatment up to Rs 25 lakh. Now no woman in India will have to mortgage her ‘mangalsutra’ for the treatment of her family.”
Mangal Sutra war
A political slugfest was triggered last week after PM Modi claimed that Congress had been plotting to hand over the people’s hard-earned money and property to “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”. PM Modi said the Congress’ thinking was that of Urban Naxals. “My mothers and sisters, they will not even leave your ‘mangalsutra’. They will go this far,” he added.
The remarks triggered a row with Opposition leaders, including Jairam Ramesh, Priyanka Gandhi, Tejashwi Yadav and Farooq Abdullah, criticising PM Modi’s remark. Many of these leaders claimed PM Modi never respected the sacred thread.
Priyanka Gandhi also hit out at the Prime Minister saying that her mother, Sonia Gandhi, sacrificed her ‘mangalsutra’ for the country, referring to the assassination of her father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
“What talks are happening in this country? Two days back there were speeches that Congress wants to snatch your ‘mangalsutra’. This country has been free for the past 75 years, and 55 years Congress was in power. Did Congress ever snatch your gold or ‘mangalsutra’?,” she was quoted by PTI as saying during a rally in Bengaluru.
