Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "redistribution of wealth" remarks, saying not a word has been mentioned about it in the party's Lok Sabha election manifesto.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that our manifesto talks about wealth redistribution. I challenge him that in our 50-page manifesto, there is not one word that hints at wealth redistribution...," he said while addressing a press conference.
In its election manifesto, Congress has said that it will address the growing inequality of wealth and income through suitable changes in policies. "The Congress is committed to rapid growth and generation of wealth. We have set a target of doubling the GDP in the next 10 years," the manifesto reads.
The Congress leader also clarified the party's stance on inheritance tax amid an uproar over Sam Pitroda's remarks. He said, "I want to clarify one thing. There is no mention of inheritance tax in our manifesto, it is not our agenda. The truth is, that in 1985, PM Rajiv Gandhi abolished the inheritance tax... We never mentioned anything about inheritance tax."
Backing the idea of wealth redistribution, Pitroda, the president of the Indian Overseas Congress, had said that India should benefit from the wealth of the super rich. "...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 percent to his children, 55 percent is grabbed by 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.
Meanwhile, Jairam Ramesh stated that the BJP is in trouble and the Prime Minister is baffled. Since April 19, when the first phase of polling took place, Modi has been trying to take the whole agenda in a different direction, said Ramesh.
"He tried to give a communal angle to our manifesto, after which, he raised some issues which are not there in our manifesto. He is publicising our manifesto during his election rallies. Even though this publicity is wrong, it is based on lies, still, this is the first time that the PM is publicising the opposition's manifesto," he said.
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Addressing a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara, Modi had alleged the Congress plans to give people’s hard-earned money and valuables to “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”.
The Congress has asserted that its manifesto does not talk about “redistribution” and that it favours a “comprehensive socio-economic caste census”.
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