PM: I will be a wall to foil Cong’s ploy to loot people

MORENA: PM Modi on Thursday stepped up his attack on the Congress and said he was standing as a wall between the people and the grand old party’s plans to loot them.

Addressing an election rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena city, Modi said former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had abolished the inheritance tax after his mother Indira Gandhi’s death to save her wealth from going to the government. After benefitting from it, the Congress now wants to impose it again on the people of the country, he said.

If the Congress comes to power, it will snatch more than half of the earnings of the people through inheritance tax, he said.

A day after Rahul Gandhi’s remark that those who call themselves “deshbhakt” are scared of the ‘X-ray’ of caste census, Narendra Modi said the Congress wants to confiscate people’s jewellery and small savings by conducting an X-ray of their properties and valuables.

“Listen with your ears wide open about the sins that 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 portion 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,” he said. “To save the money going to the government, the then PM Rajiv Gandhi abolished the inheritance tax,” Modi said.

The Congress wants to reinforce the tax more powerfully now after its four generations reaped benefit of the wealth passed on to them, he said. An adviser to the opposition party’s ‘shehzada’ (referring to Rahul Gandhi) has now suggested imposition of inheritance tax, he said seizing on Congress leader Sam Pitroda’s remarks amid the row on the issue of wealth redistribution.

As long as the BJP is there, it will not allow such designs to succeed, the prime minister said.

“Modi is standing as a wall between you and the Congress’ plan to loot you,” the prime minister said.