PM rips into Congress over Sam Pitroda remark: ‘Loot the living and the dead’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on Congress after the party’s Sam Pitroda appeared to advocate for a US-style inheritance tax amid the ongoing debate over wealth redistribution. The comments have further fuelled an already-raging controversy over Rahul Gandhi’s promise to conduct a wealth survey if the Congress won the Lok Sabha election.

Speaking at a public meeting in Chhattisgarh's Surguja, PM Modi alleged that the Congress wants to fill its own coffers by imposing ever higher taxes and not allowing people to pass on their hard-earned wealth to their children.

"The advisor [Sam Pitroda] of the 'prince' and the 'royal family' had said some time ago that more taxes should be imposed on the middle class," said PM Modi. "Congress says that it will impose an inheritance tax, and it will also impose tax on the inheritance received from parents. Your children will not get the wealth that you accumulate through your hard work, rather the claws of the Congress will snatch it away from you."

The Prime Minister said Pitroda's remarks had exposed the dangerous intentions of the Congress. Making a play on LIC's erstwhile slogan, he jibed, "Congress has one mantra -- to loot people zindagi ke sath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi (in life and even after death)."

Without taking any names, PM Modi targeted the Gandhi family and said, "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."

WHAT IS THE ROW OVER INHERITANCE TAX?

In an interview with news agency ANI, Indian Overseas Congress chairman Sam Pitroda backed his party’s stand on redistribution of wealth and called for a policy for the same while citing the concept of inheritance tax prevailing in some American states.

"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 and 55% goes to 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,” Pitroda said.

“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," he added.

The BJP went hammer-and-tongs after Congress in the wake of Pitroda's remarks. It warned people of "property snatchers", with party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla saying that the "Congress want to grab one's hard-earned tax-paid resources".

After facing backlash, Pitroda clarified that his statements were twisted and had nothing to do with the Congress or the party's manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. He also accused the BJP and PM Modi of spreading lies about the Congress manifesto.

The Prime Minister and the BJP had criticised the Congress manifesto, saying it smacks of appeasement and that if it came to power, it would redistribute people’s wealth and also give reservations to Muslims from the quota for SC, ST, and OBC communities.

"Who said 55% will be taken away? Who said something like this should be done in India? Why is BJP and media in panic?" Pitroda said.

Meanwhile, the Congress distanced itself from the controversy, and said Pitroda's views do not always reflect the position of the party.