Modi says Rajiv Gandhi abolished inheritance tax to avoid paying it
Congress leader KK Mishra called Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inheritance tax claim about Rajiv Gandhi a lie and added the party has no plans to implement it
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday stepped up the attack on the Congress for giving quota to Muslims under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category in Karnataka and claiming the Rajiv Gandhi government abolished the inheritance tax in 1985 to avoid paying it on the property he inherited following the assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi, a year earlier.
Speaking at an election rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena, Modi said he was sharing an “interesting” fact on how the Congress cheated people as he linked the abolition of the inheritance tax to Rajiv Gandhi’s inheritance. Modi said Congress wanted to bring back a more stringent law to “loot” the people’s hard-earned money after doing so across four generations.
The comments came a day after Modi seized on Congress leader Sam Pitroda’s comments on inheritance tax and accused the Opposition party of intending to tax the people even “after death” amid a debate on the redistribution of wealth. Pitroda said that the idea of an inheritance tax should be debated and discussed even as Congress disassociated itself from his comments.
On April 6, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi promised a “financial and institutional survey” if the party was voted to power. He added this would be followed by a “historic assignment to distribute the wealth of India, jobs, and other welfare schemes based on population”.
A tax was levied on inherited assets from 1953 to 1985 with 40% being the maximum marginal rate levied on property exceeding the value of ₹50 lakh. Proponents of such a tax argue that it helps address disparities that inherited wealth causes.
In 1985, the then Congress government scrapped the tax saying it had not achieved the objectives of reducing an unequal distribution of wealth and assisting the states in financing development schemes.
The Congress has pointed out the Modi government advocated an inheritance tax, citing comments of former BJP ministers Jayant Sinha and the late Arun Jaitley. Congress leader KK Mishra called Modi’s inheritance tax claim about Rajiv Gandhi a lie. “The truth is Congress has no plans to implement inheritance tax. ...Rajiv Gandhi abolished estate duty in 1985.”
He added Jayant Sinha favoured a 55% inheritance tax like in America. “Jayant Sinha publicly said that he wanted to implement inheritance tax in 2014 and 2017. In 2018, the then finance minister Arun Jaitley praised inheritance tax saying that in the western countries, such tax provides huge grants to hospitals and educational institutions. Prime Minister should answer that what will he say on this,” he said.
Modi claimed the Congress government in Karnataka declared all Muslims in Karnataka as OBC. “Congress added so many new people into the OBC community...earlier OBCs used to get reservations in education and government jobs... these reservations they used to get have been secretly snatched away from them,” Modi said. He added that the Congress in 2011 decided to give away a part of the OBC reservation on religious lines.
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah accused Modi of misleading people saying backward Muslims in Karnataka get 4% reservation under the 2B category, which also includes influential Lingayats and Vokkaliga communities. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that the Congress has transferred the reservation quota from backward classes and Dalits to Muslims is a blatant lie. It stems from ignorance but also indicative of his desperation born from a fear of defeat. No leader in the history of our country has ever demeaned the office of the prime minister to such a low level,” he said in a post on X.
He added Modi should either substantiate these “irresponsible allegations” with evidence or “apologise to the nation”.
Modi said the reservation to Yadavs, Khushwahas, Gujjars, and other backward classes would go to the Congress’s favourite vote bank without naming Muslims. “They want to implement this model in the whole country,” Modi said.
In the run-up to the second phase of the seven-phase national polls for 89 seats across 13 states on Friday, Modi has attacked Congress claiming it wants to redistribute wealth and reservation benefits to Muslims.
Recommended Topics