On Wednesday (24th April), Prime Minister Narendra Modi lambasted the Congress party over the ‘Inheritance tax’ plan by proposed Sam Pitroda, the aide and advisor of Rahul Gandhi and the grand old party. Addressing the Vijay Sankalp Shankhnaad Maharally in Surguja, Chhattisgarh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that Congress has taken loot (corruption/extortion) to such an extent that it continues during life and then after death of Indian citizens.
Notably, earlier in the day, the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s advisor Sam Pitroda suggested that a US-like inheritance tax should be brought in India. As per the Congress leader, under this tax regime, more than half of the Wealth of a citizen will be grabbed by the government once a person dies leaving only the remaining portion with their bereaved family. He claimed that in the USA, 55% of the wealth is taken by the govt after a person dies, and only 45% can be transferred to children. He proposed such a plan in India, to fund the Congress promises of giving huge cash handouts to people.
Addressing the rally in Chhattisgarh, PM Modi hit back at the Inheritance tax plan charging the Congress party with over-burdening the taxpayers and rampant loot. He emphasised that the Mantra of the Congress party is Congress ki loot, zindagi ke sath bhi, Zindagi ke baad bhi. (Translation – Congress ki loot, during life and after death too.)
Without naming Rahul Gandhi and his advisor Sam Pitroda, PM Modi said, “The royal family’s prince’s advisor and the royal family’s prince’s father’s (Rajeev Gandhi) advisor had 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 claws of Congress will snatch that too from you.”
PM Modi, who has been critical of the dynastic takeover of political parties, stressed that those who consider the Congress party as their ancestral property want Indians to not pass their property to their children after their death.
He added, “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.”
Inheritance tax plans by advisor of Congress party
Amidst a strong criticism of the Congress party’s ‘wealth redistribution’ poll promise, the Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s advisor Sam Pitroda on Wednesday morning (Indian Standard Time) suggested a US-like inheritance tax as a way to redistribute wealth.
He said, “In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has $100 million worth of wealth and when he dies he can only transfer probably 45% to his children, 55% is grabbed by the government. That’s an interesting law. It says you in your generation, made wealth and you are leaving now, you must leave your wealth for the public, not all of it, half of it, which to me sounds fair. In India, you don’t have that. If somebody is worth 10 billion and he dies, his children get 10 billion and the public gets nothing.”
“So these are the kind of issues people will have to debate and discuss. I don’t know what the conclusion would be at the end of the day but when we talk about redistributing wealth, we are talking about new policies and new programs that are in the interest of the people and not in the interest of the super-rich only,” the advisor to Congress party added.
However, soon after his remarks drew widespread criticism and condemnation, the Congress party tried to distance itself from his remarks in a bid to control the damage.
Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications, Jairam Ramesh argued that while Sam Pitroda is a ‘very respected’ man, his statement should not be taken seriously. Additionally, Sam Pitroda himself stated that whatever he talked about had nothing to do with Congress and that the statements he made were in a personal capacity. He further blamed the media for ‘twisting’ his statement. However, Pitroda’s statement about inheritance tax was not twisted, but presented as it is.
Congress’ wealth redistribution plan
As reported earlier, a major outrage erupted over Congress’s plans to do an economic survey to find out who owns how much wealth and redistribute it. PM Modi recently attacked the Congress party over this and asserted that Congress will redistribute the wealth to the infiltrators. He warned the voters that according to the Congress party’s announcement if they form the government, gold, silver, ornaments like Mangalsutra, property, etc of Indians will be surveyed to be taken away and redistributed.
Nonetheless, Sam Pitroda is not a featherweight leader in the Congress party but a very senior leader and close to the Gandhi family. He was earlier in the news for asking the middle class ‘not to be selfish’ and to be ready to pay more taxes to fund freebie plans of the Congress party. Before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he courted controversy, when he shrugged off the 1984 Sikh genocide as ‘Hua to Hua’ — ‘84 happened, so what?’.