Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said then-PM Rajiv Gandhi abolished the inheritance tax after his mother Indira Gandhi’s death in 1984 to save her wealth from going to the government, and alleged the Congress now wants to bring back the levy.
As the high-decibel canvassing for Lok Sabha polls sent political temperatures soaring, the BJP’s star campaigner doubled down on his wealth redistribution and inheritance tax charge at the Congress and vowed to protect people’s from what he called the rival party’s plans to loot them.
Addressing a rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena, where voting will take place on May 7, Modi escalated his attack on the grand old party and accused it of “cutting off the country’s hands” by accepting Partition on the basis of religion. Modi said then-PM Rajiv Gandhi abolished the inheritance tax, a levy imposed on inherited movable and immovable assets, in 1985 after his mother Indira Gandhi’s death to save her wealth from going to the government.
“Listen with your ears wide open about the sins the Congress has committed. I want to put forth an interesting fact. When sister Indira Gandhi passed away, there was a law by virtue of which half of the wealth used to go to the government. There were talks then that Indiraji willed her wealth in her son Rajiv Gandhi’s name,” Modi told the gathering.
“To save the money going to the government, the then-PM Rajiv Gandhi abolished the inheritance tax,” the BJP stalwart opined. If the main opposition party comes to power, it will snatch more than half of people’s earnings through inheritance tax, the PM warned voters, latching onto controversial remarks on the issue made by US-based senior Congress leader Sam Pitroda.
A day after MP Rahul Gandhi’s remark that those who call themselves “deshbhakt” (patriots) are scared of a caste census, Modi said the Congress wants to confiscate people’s jewellery and small savings by conducting an X-ray of their properties and valuables. An adviser to the opposition party’s ‘shehzada’ (referring to Rahul Gandhi) has now suggested imposition of an inheritance tax, he said, seizing on Pitroda’s remarks. The Congress wants to bring back the inheritance tax now that after its four generations have reaped the benefit of the wealth passed on to them, he said. But the BJP will not allow such designs to succeed, the PM assured the crowd. “The wealth that you have accumulated by working hard and enduring hardships will be looted from you once a Congress-led government is formed,” he said.
“Modi with his 56-inch chest is standing as a wall between you and the Congress’ plan to loot you. That is why Congress leaders and the opposition abuse me so much,” the PM said.
He accused the Congress of accepting Partition of the country on religious lines. “Instead of unshackling the hands of ‘Maa Bharti’, the Congress cut off her hands and divided the country,” Modi alleged.
The Congress wants to snatch reservation of SCs/STs/OBCs for the sake of its Muslim vote-bank and was bent on grabbing power with religious appeasement, the PM said. “The Congress says Muslims have the first right on the country’s resources, while I say the poor have the first right on them,” Modi emphasised. Describing himself as ‘kaamdar’ (working class) and Rahul Gandhi as ‘naamdar’ (dynast), the PM said, “Nowadays, the shehzada (prince) of the Congress is enjoying abusing Modi. We are there to listen to the abuses from the ‘naamdaars’ but I will continue serving the people and ‘Maa Bharti.”
For years, the Congress did not allow the ‘One Rank One Pension’ scheme for armed forces personnel, but “we did it (implemented the scheme)”, the PM noted.
The Congress has been hatching a conspiracy to deprive tribals and backward classes of their rights, the BJP stalwart said. “Will you ensure a total washout of those snatching the rights of backward classes?” he asked the gathering, calling for a defeat of the Congress in the ongoing polls.
