Surguja: Amid a political slugfest over Congress's "wealth redistribution" poll promise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the remarks made by Congress' Sam Pitroda advocating an 'inheritance tax' like law saying that the Congress does not want the countrymen to pass on their property to their children.
"The royal family's prince's advisor has said that more taxes should be imposed on the middle class. Now these people have gone one step further than this, Congress says that it will impose an Inheritance Tax, and it will also impose tax on the inheritance received from parents. The property you have accumulated through your hard work will not be given to your children," the Prime Minister said at an election rally in Surguja.
Prime Minister said that the mantra of the Congress is "Loot zindagi ke sath bhi zindagi ke baad bhi" (Loot, during the lifetime and afterwards).
"The claws of Congress will snatch that too from you. As long as you are alive, Congress will impose higher taxes and when you are no longer alive, it will burden you with Inheritance Tax. Those people who considered the entire Congress party as their ancestral property and handed it over to their children, now do not want Indians to pass on their property to their children," he said.
After the comments snowballed into a controversy Pitroda sought to downplay the issue saying he had only cited inheritance tax in the US as an example.
"Who said 55 per cent will be taken away? Who said something like this should be done in India? Why are BJP and the media in panic? I mentioned US inheritance tax in the US only as an example in my normal conversation on TV. Can I not mention facts? I said these are the kinds of issues people will have to discuss and debate. This has nothing to do with the policy of any party including Congress," Pitroda said in his post on X.
The Congress officially has distanced itself from Pitroda's comments saying that his remarks do not reflect the view of the party at all times.
Continuing the attack on the Congress manifesto, the Prime Minister said that the opposition party has always planned to implement reservation on the basis of religion.
"When the Congress manifesto came out, I had said on the same day that the Congress manifesto had the stamp of the Muslim League on it. When the Constitution was being made, it was decided under the leadership of Baba Saheb Ambedkar that there would be no reservation on the basis of religion in India. But for the vote bank, Congress did not care about the words of these great men, did not care about the sanctity of the Constitution nor did it care about the words of Baba Saheb Ambedkar," PM said.
"Years ago, Congress had tried to give reservation on the basis of religion in Andhra Pradesh. Then Congress planned to implement it all over the country. Congress said that reservation should be given to some people based on religion by stealing some part of the SC/ST and OBC quota," he added.
He further said that "misgovernance by the Congress resulted towards the destruction of the country however BJP is taking strict action against terrorism and Naxalism". He also took a jibe at Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for shedding tears over the images 2008 Batla House encounter as stated by Salman Khurshid.
"Congress is supporting the people who spread violence and call them bravehearts. The biggest leader of this Congress sheds tears when terrorists are killed. Due to such actions, Congress has lost the trust of the country," he said.