Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his ‘mangalsutra’ remark, recounting how women in her family sacrificed for the nation.

Launching a scathing attack on PM Modi, Priyanka Gandhi said her mother Sonia Gandhi’s mangalsutra was sacrificed for the sake of the country.

Addressing a rally in Bengaluru, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “For the last two days, it is being said that Congress wants to snatch your ‘mangalsutra’ and gold. The country has been independent for 70 years and there has been a Congress government for 55 years. Did anyone snatch your gold, ‘mangalsutra’?”

“When the war was on, Indira Gandhi gave her gold to the country. My mother’s mangalsutra was sacrificed for this country,” she said.

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The Congress general secretary was referring to the assassination of her father, Rajiv Gandhi, who was killed by Sri Lankan Tamil extremists in 1991.

She also said that the Prime Minister has abandoned ethics and is indulging in drama to distract the people from the real issues.

In Bengaluru, questioned her audience what they hear these days when they turn on the television. Not plans for their welfare or development, but “crazy talk” and demands.

“The Prime Minister says they will cross 400 seats and change the constitution… sometimes he says he is being abused, or talks about religion. You are among the most qualified cities in the world… do you deserve this?” she said.

PM Modi’s comment that the Congress is planning to redistribute the country’s wealth in favour of “infiltrators” did not go down well with some of the people and generated a huge political row since the weekend, which has reached the Election Commission.

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At a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara on April 21, PM Modi had said the Congress manifesto promises that if they come to power, “everyone’s property will be surveyed, it will calculate gold belonging to mothers and sisters and then redistribute it”. They “won’t even spare your mangalsutra,” he had added.

On Tuesday, he doubled down on the comments even after facing flak, saying he had “revealed some truths” which has “scared” the Congress. He also said that listening to Hanuman Chalisa has “become a crime under the Congress”, recounting an incident about a man being beaten up badly in Karnataka, a Congress-ruled state.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra questioned if the Prime Minister understood the importance of mangalsutra.

“If Modi ji had understood the importance of ‘Mangalsutra’, he would not have said such things. When demonetisation happened, he took away the savings of women. During the farmers’ protest, 600 farmers lost their lives, Did Modi-ji think about the ‘Mangalsutra’ of those widows?” she said.

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Congress leader P Chidambaram also lashed out at the Prime Minister, saying his remarks show the ruling BJP’s “pathological fear of defeat”.

“What else explains the bizarre claim that the Congress will seize the mangalsutra, streedhan and Temple properties, and redistribute them? Even the most die-hard supporter of the BJP will not believe these meaningless utterances. I wonder what the RSS leaders privately think of these statements,” the former Union Minister said in a tweet.

The Congress has also lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against PM Modi, alleging that he targeted a particular religious community during his speech at the Banswara rally.

According to sources, the Election Commission has received the complaint against the Prime Minister, and it is under consideration.