India, May 11 -- LUCKNOW Jewellery traders and workers associated with Lucknow's sarafa industry staged a protest at Powerhouse crossing in Ashiana on Monday, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal for postponing purchase of gold and foreign travel for one year to save foreign exchange amid the West Asia crisis. They claimed the remarks could severely affect the city's traditional jewellery trade and the livelihoods dependent on it.

Raising slogans, members of the Lucknow Sarafa Association said the statement triggered anxiety within the jewellery market at a time when traders were already struggling with rising gold prices, weak consumer demand and economic uncertainty. Police personnel were deployed at the site to maintain ord...