The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Rajiv Gandhi abolished inheritance law so he could get Indira’s property: Modi
FORMER PRIME Minister Rajiv Gandhi "abolished the inheritance law that existed earlier to save his property" after his mother Indira Gandhi passed away, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, as he continued his attack on the Congress.
Modi, speaking in Madhya Pradesh's Morena region, said that when "Prime Minister of the country, Indira Ji, was no more, the property that she had was supposed to go to her children”.
"Earlier, there was a law that before it went to them, the government used to take a share of it. The Congress had already made such a law and there was widespread discussion at the time. And when Indira Ji was no more and her son Rajiv Gandhi was supposed to get the property… what did he do? To save that property he got from his mother Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi himself abolished the inheritance law that existed earlier to save his property and save that money," Modi said.
Inheritance tax became a political flashpoint after Congress leader Sam Pitroda said such a concept could be debated in
India. Modi referred to the remarks during his speech in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday, suggesting that the Congress had its eyes on the wealth of all Indians.
On Thursday, he said that "once the ( Indira- Rajiv) matter was settled there, today again out of greed for power, these people want to bring back that same law with more stringency”.
"After acquiring the wealth of four generations of their family, now these people want to loot your inheritance, the income you have saved for your children, by imposing a tax on it. That is why the country is witnessing the loot of the Congress, during one’s life and even after one’s life," Modi said.
He also attacked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, referring to him as the shahzada of the royal family who wants to conduct an X- ray across the country.