Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday cited RBI data showing an increase in gold loans to accuse Narendra Modi of taking away women’s jewellery, turning the tables on the Prime Minister who had raised the spectre of the Grand Old Party confiscating the “mangalsutras of mothers and sisters” during his divisive Lok Sabha poll campaign.
“You talked about ‘stealing the mangalsutra’. That has now come true. Under your rule, women have been forced to mortgage their gold jewellery. Between 2019 and 2024, 4 crore women have taken loans worth ₹4.7 lakh crore by pledging their gold. Gold loans accounted for 38% of the total loans taken by women in 2024. RBI data in February 2025 showed that gold loans grew by a massive 71.3% in a year. First you made the women’s stridhan disappear by implementing demonetisation, now due to inflation and falling household savings, they are forced to mortgage their most valuable thing — their jewellery,” Kharge posted on X.
At an election rally in Banswara, Rajasthan, on April 21 last year, Modi had alleged that the Congress manifesto had pledged to take away the gold owned by mothers and sisters and distribute it among Muslims. Challenging Modi to point to one reference in the manifesto to Hindus or Muslims, the Congress had then said: “Accept this challenge or stop lying”.
The latest data on gold loans brought out by the RBI provided the Congress with the chance to pay Modi back in the same coin. “The bad news for India’s women now continues to pile up. In February 2025, RBI data showed that gold loans had jumped a whopping 71.3%. While bank credit in every other sector has slowed, from housing loans to car loans, distress lending such as gold loans is peaking,” Congress communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh said on Tuesday.
Both Kharge and Ramesh were referring to reports that the gold loan portfolio of banks rose 71.3 per cent year-on-year till December 2024 to ₹1.72 trillion compared to 17 per cent growth a year ago.