Jewellers and jewellery artists across Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have been protesting since Wednesday against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to people not to buy gold for a year.
Jewellers and goldsmiths are selling jhalmuri on the streets of Varanasi, Modi’s parliamentary constituency, as a mark of protest.
“Several lakh jewellers and gold workers depend on this trade. But Modi didn’t think about them for a second when he asked the people of the country to postpone their plans to buy gold,” Swarnkar Sangh district president Jitendra Seth said.
“We are selling jhalmuri to send a message to Modi that he is encouraging joblessness and hunger. We hope he reconsiders his appeal, or we will organise a nationwide protest soon.”
Modi had lifted the jhalmuri, an inexpensive street snack in Bengal, to national spotlight when he bought the popular munch from a shop during the Assembly poll campaign.
“Besides, the central government has suddenly raised the import duty on gold from 6 per cent to 15 per cent. This is disheartening,” Seth said.
“We kept our shutters down on Wednesday and Thursday to make the government hear our voice.”
Modi had while addressing a public meeting in Hyderabad on Sunday expressed concern about the possible impact of the West Asia conflict on the country’s economy and appealed to people to reduce their use of petroleum products and not buy gold for a year. On Wednesday, the government raised import duty on gold by 9 percentage points.
The jewellers of Uttarakhand, too, observed a shutdown on Thursday.
Gurjeet Singh, general secretary of the Jewellers’ Association of Uttaranchal, said: “You can see the negative effect on the jewellery sellers and makers within a few days of the Prime Minister’s appeal. He has pushed us into economic crisis and the jewellery artists into hunger.”
He added: “Gold symbolises India’s civilisation. It’s an essential part of our religion, too. We fail to understand how he can make such an appeal without addressing its possible impact on the people of the country.”
Sunil Mansoni, president of the Sarafa Mandal, a jewellers’ body in Uttarakhand, said: “The price of gold rose from ₹1.55 lakh per 10 grams to ₹1.66 lakh on Wednesday. This is not a wise economic decision. The people are disillusioned.”
Mansoni’s organisation held a candlelight march in Dehradun on Thursday evening.
“The candlelight march shows our disagreement with the government. We want to remind him that such statements and moves immediately lead to unemployment,” Mansoni said.