Pitroda’s ‘inheritence tax’ remark puts Cong in trouble; party distances itself as PM seizes it to step up attack

 PM lying since election slipping away from BJP grasp: Rahul Gandhi

Archis Mohan, BS, New Delhi,  Apr 25, 2024  : Hours after a news agency released excerpts of an interview with Congress leader Sam Pitroda speaking in Chicago on the US’ inheritance tax and suggesting discussion and debate on the subject, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership, led by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, attacked the Congress over the remark. Modi said Congress’ “dangerous intentions” of snatching the assets and rights of people have come to the fore.

Pitroda later said his remarks were distorted, while the Congress distanced itself from Pitroda’s remarks, stating it had neither spoken in its manifesto about the redistribution of wealth nor of any inheritance tax.

The Congress pointed to speeches of BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Jayant Sinha where they had either spoken of introducing an inheritance tax or extolled its virtues.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the PM of indulging in falsehoods because he knows the election is slipping away from the BJP’s grasp.

Addressing a public meeting in Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur, the district headquarters of the Surguja district, on the last day of campaigning for Phase II of the Lok Sabha polls, the PM claimed that the Congress will loot and equally distribute people’s earnings.

In a reference to Pitroda and Rahul, the PM said that the “advisor of the Congress’ prince”, who was also the advisor to his father, has said that more tax should be imposed on the middle class and those who earn by toiling hard.

Borrowing from an insurance company’s tagline, the PM said the Congress’ mantra is “loot of Congress zindagi ke saath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi”. “Until you are alive, Congress will impose more tax and after your life ends, it will impose the burden of inheritance tax on you,” he said.

The PM didn’t refer to either Pitroda or Rahul by name but said the ‘panja’ (Congress poll symbol) would snatch the assets from your children.

Congress leader Praveen Chakravarty, who has helped draft the party’s manifesto, said that the Congress had made no mention of imposing an “inheritance tax” anywhere in its manifesto.

In Solapur, Rahul accused the PM of “lying” about his claims that he had spoken of redistribution of wealth. He said the PM was nervous as the people had come to understand that Modi represented the interests of a handful of billionaires.

Addressing the Samajik Nyay Sammelan in the national capital in the morning, Rahul said he was committed to a caste census. From the Rs 16 trillion transferred by Modi to select business people, the Congress is going to return “only a small amount” to 90 per cent of the population, he said.

He said the PM has panicked after seeing the Congress’ “revolutionary manifesto” which talks about the ‘X-ray’ and the income inequality created by Modi.

Taking a swipe at the media for dubbing him a “non-serious” politician in the past, Rahul cited his involvement with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme, the Land Acquisition Bill, the Bhatta-Parsaul movement, Niyamgiri Hill Range matter, and said for the media all this was “non-serious while talking about Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, and Virat Kohli was serious”.

Later in the day, Pitroda, the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, termed it “unfortunate” that his remarks made in the US were “twisted” by the media to “divert attention from what lies the PM is spreading about the Congress manifesto”.

“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.

“Who said 55 per cent will be taken away? Who said something like this should be done in India? Why is the BJP and media in panic?” Pitroda asked.

In his interview, released earlier in the day, Pitroda had spoken of the “inheritance tax” on the wealthy in the US, where 55 per cent is taken by the government on the demise of its super-rich.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said PM Rajiv Gandhi abolished estate duty in 1985, and the Congress has no plan to introduce an inheritance tax. However, Jairam pointed out, posting video clips of speeches of BJP leaders and links to newspaper reports, that in 2014, as the Minister of State for Finance, Jayant Sinha “publicly stated that he wanted to introduce inheritance tax”.

Jairam said that in 2018, Jaitley, as the country’s finance minister, praised inheritance tax for “spurring large endowments to hospitals and universities in the West”.

Later in the day, at his public meeting in Madhya Pradesh’s Harda, the PM said the Opposition INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc is contemplating a “one year, one PM” formula to resolve their leadership issue.

He asked if voters were ready for the “five-PMs-in-five-years” formula. Modi advised people to be alert about these leaders, who he maintained are daydreaming like ‘Mungerilal ke sapne’. He noted that Congress can go to any extent to please its vote, and spoke about “wealth redistribution and inheritance tax”.