Wading back into the wealth redistribution debate, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in a state of panic after seeing the Congress’ “revolutionary” manifesto. In what seemed like a response to BJP attacks, Mr. Gandhi said that he has only spoken about inequality and injustice, and has not spoken of taking any particular action against it.
The Congress also distanced itself from comments by Sam Pitroda, who heads the Indian Overseas Congress, in which he seemed to advocate for an inheritance tax to be levied on the rich.
Speaking at a social justice conclave, Mr. Gandhi said that those who call themselves deshbhakt (patriots) are scared of the ‘X-ray’ of a caste census, but insisted that no force can stop it. Social justice is his life’s mission and not a matter of politics, he added.
“I am not interested in caste but in nyay (justice). I am saying that gross injustice is being done against 90% of the population. I have not even said that we will take any action on that. I just said let us find out how much injustice is being done,” Mr. Gandhi said at the conclave.
Creating ‘crores of lakhpatis’
“We have calculated...what we felt is justice and that help should be given. We put it down in the manifesto,” he added, referring to his party’s guarantees mentioned in the manifesto
Later in the day, addressing election rallies in Maharashtra’s Amravati and Solapur, Mr. Gandhi, asserted that his party’s promise of welfare schemes like the right to apprenticeship, cash assistance for women, and jobs for youth would create crores of “lakhpatis”.
He was campaigning for Balwant Wankhede and Praniti Shinde, candidates belonging to the Congress and Maha Vikas Aghadi for the Amravati and Solapur Lok Sabha seats respectively.
‘Fight to save democracy’
Launching a broadside against Mr. Modi and the BJP, the Congress leader alleged that for the first time since Independence, a political party in the history of India was attempting to destroy the Constitution.
“This election is a fight to save the Constitution and democracy,” he said, adding, “The BJP’s aim is not merely to win the Lok Sabha election, but to destroy the Constitution. On the other hand, the objective of the Congress and the INDIA bloc is to preserve it.”
Tax exemptions for ultra-rich
Calling Mr. Modi “a leader of billionaires”, Mr. Gandhi reiterated his allegation that, over the last decade, the Prime Minister has reportedly given a staggering ₹16 lakh crore worth of tax exemptions to the 25 richest people in the country.
“This amounts to funding the MNREGA scheme for 24 years or a loan waiver for farmers 24 times over. The situation in the country is such that its wealth is concentrated in the hands of these 22 to 25 businessmen, who are the PM’s friends. This wealth is equivalent to the total wealth of 70 crore Indians,” he claimed.
In a subsequent post on X, Mr. Gandhi noted that this amount [of ₹ 16 lakh crore] could have provided LPG cooking gas cylinders to consumers at ₹400 for the next 20 years, sustained the expenditure of the armed forces for the next three years, provided jobs to 16 crore youth with an annual pay of ₹1 lakh, or helped 16 crore women with an annual cash assistance of ₹1 lakh.
‘Pitroda giving personal opinion’
His comments came on a day when Indian Overseas Congress chief Sam Pitroda’s advocacy for an inheritance tax gave fresh ammunition to the BJP.
Rejecting Mr. Pitroda’s comment as his personal opinion, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted a video on X, showing former Minister of State for Finance and BJP MP Jayant Sinha also arguing in favour of a 55% inheritance tax, as well as an old post of BJP leader Amit Malviya supporting Mr. Sinha.
“The word ‘redistribution’ does not appear in the #CongressNyayPatra. It has, however, appeared before in the BJP’s election manifestos - for the Lok Sabha Elections in 1999 and 1996 (pictured here). Does PM Modi believe that [former PM Atal Behari] Vajpayee was also the ringleader of some conspiracy to snatch mangalsutras away from India’s women?” Mr. Ramesh asked.
