The gormint snatches people's land for highway widening projects very frequently. They are given a compensation par the circle rate (much lower than the optimistic market rate) and resettled elsewhere. It can be done for gold too. Russia and China have accumulated gold in huge quantities in the last 5 years. India has just begun the process. The logical progression will take them to the same path.
In a flourishing economy, cash is king and by proxy, the gormint is king because they can print it and tweak rates and do all kind of gymnastics. In an economic slump, cash is meaningless, and the gormint is scared of gold and land holders becoming more powerful than them, so they try to strip their citizens of these assets before a big crash. This is to prevent those holding gold and land from becoming the new feudal landlords. Wait and see for a year > Gold rates will go up, simultaneously the public gold holding will go down. In essence, the gormint will retain its relative richness vis-a-vis the citizens.
Makeup clad babes in TV studios will start flooding the news-o-sphere with bad news about gold and real estate. Keep an eye on em babes. Em be weapons of mass distraction.