New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday alleged the government is responsible for "stealing" mangalsutras from women due to rise in default on gold loans in the country because of its cronyism, erratic policies and warped priorities.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that people are defaulting on at least 30 percent of gold loans and claimed women are losing their gold, including mangalsutras.

"The Modi Government's rampant cronyism, erratic policymaking, and warped priorities have earned it the dubious distinction of being the only Government in the history of Independent India to steal mangalsutras from women," Ramesh said on X.

"At a time when the non-biological PM was scaremongering about some imagined plot to steal 'Mangalsutras', we had raised the issue of the rapid rise in gold loans during his tenure," he said in his post.

Citing reports, the Congress leader said an estimated Rs 3 lakh crores in gold loans have been taken out by the Indian families and are outstanding as of today.

"It now emerges that with rising indebtedness and a slowing economy, families are increasingly defaulting on these gold loans," Ramesh said.

"The proportion of gold loan NPAs rose 30 percent from Rs.5,149 crore to Rs.6,696 crore in the three months between March and June 2024. And these are just the formal sector gold loans? there's no estimate of how many families have taken recourse to the informal sector," he said.

"When families default on these loans, they often lose the underlying gold asset' in most cases, the woman's jewelry, including the mangalsutra," the Congress leader claimed.