Morena: Amid a bitter political row over Congress leader Sam Pitroda’s ”inheritance tax” remarks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the main opposition party and claimed that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi scrapped the inheritance law during his tenure to save the wealth and family property that was to be seized by the government after the death of his mother Indira Gandhi.
Addressing a rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena, PM Modi said, “The facts relating to Inheritance Tax are eye-opening. When former PM Indira Gandhi died, her children were going to get her property. But there was a rule earlier, that before the property goes to the children some part of it was taken by the government. Congress had formulated a law on this. To save the property so that it does not go to the government, the then PM Rajiv Gandhi scrapped the inheritance law. After accumulating wealth over four generations, now they want to loot your wealth.”
Further attacking the Congress government in Karnataka for its decision to categorise the entire Muslim community in the state under the OBC category, the Prime Minister warned that the opposition party will implement this model in the entire nation. “Congress government in Karnataka declared all the people of the Muslim community in Karnataka as OBC. Congress already added so many new people into the OBC community that earlier OBCs used to get reservations in education and government jobs but now these reservations they used to get have been secretly snatched away from them,” PM said in Morena.
The Prime Minister went on to say that when Congress was at Centre in 2011, it had decided to give away a part of OBC reservation on religious lines.
“On December 19, 2011, a note was run in the cabinet which mentioned that a part of 27 per cent OBC must be given to a specific religion. Later, the Andhra Pradesh High Court struck the decision of Congress. They went to Supreme Court but they also upheld the decision of Andhra HC. In 2014, they again mentioned in their manifesto if the reservation has to be given on the religious lines then they will go ahead with it,” the PM said.
“Here in Madhya Pradesh, those getting the benefit of reservations such as Yadavs, Khushwahas, Gujjars and other backward classes, all your reservations will go away to their favourite vote bank. They want to implement this model in the whole country,” he added.
PM Modi has been attacking Congress, alleging that the grand old party wants to take away the gold and property of people and distribute it among “those having more children”. The PM said that those who left Congress these days have pointed towards the party’s manifesto and said that the party has gone into “grasp of urban Naxals.”
Referring to reports about Congress’s intention to redistribute wealth if elected to power, the Prime Minister said the party would conduct a survey and they would not even let Mangalsutra remain with women and “will go to this extent.” “When they (Congress) were in government, they said that Muslims have the first right over India’s resources. So, they will distribute this wealth (property and gold) among those having more children, among illegal immigrants…this Urban Naxal thinking won’t even spare your Mangalsutra,” the PM said. Prime Minister Modi made these remarks while addressing a poll rally at Chhattisgarh’s Surguja during which he alleged that the Congress’s “dangerous intentions are coming out in the open”.
Referring to Sam Pitroda’s remarks, the PM said, “The advisor of the prince of the Congress royal family had earlier said that the middle class should be taxed more. Now they have gone further ahead. Now Congress is saying that it will impose an Inheritance Tax and tax the inheritance received by people from their parents.”
PM Modi in another rally said that his speech had created panic in the entire Congress and INDIA bloc. “When I came to Rajasthan the day before yesterday, I had presented some truths before the country in my 90-second speech. This has created panic in the entire Congress and INDI alliance. I had put the truth before the country that Congress is hatching a deep conspiracy to snatch your property and distribute it to its special people. I exposed their vote bank and appeasement politics. After all, why is Congress so afraid of the truth?” the Prime Minister said.
It may be noted that Pitroda, who is the head of the overseas wing of Congress, has courted controversy over his remarks about inheritance tax in the US in an interview with the news agency ANI. While targeting the Prime Minister over his allegations that the Congress plans to redistribute the nation’s wealth and that it will take property and jewellery if it comes to power, Pitroda said the Congress’s manifesto is well-drafted and accused the BJP of making up stories.
