Lok Sabha elections 2024: "Would you work day and night if the government takes away your money at the end in the name of redistribution?" In an interview, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated, targeting the Congress.
New Delhi: Referring to the Congress's campaign for wealth redistribution through laws like the inheritance tax as "dangerous problems disguised as solutions," Prime Minister Narendra Modi has again attacked the party harshly.
"Would you work day and night if the government takes away your money at the end in the name of redistribution?" PM Modi said in an interview.
He also called Congressman Rahul Gandhi "Yuvraj" and said that the opposition's policies exemplified a scorched Earth approach.
To appease "the Opposition's vote bank," the Prime Minister said that proposals like a wealth tax would "kill" companies. The danger of such concepts is "complete and irreversible communal disharmony," he stated.
"I do not think they are solutions by any stretch of imagination," PM Modi stated, pointing out that these are hazardous issues masquerading as fixes.
"If we really want to ensure people's growth, we just need to remove barriers and empower them. This unleashes their entrepreneurial potential as we have seen in our country; even in tier 2 or 3 cities, which have given rise to a lot of startups and sports stars," he said.
According to Prime Minister Modi, wealth redistribution and wealth taxes have never worked since they have just made poverty more evenly distributed rather than eliminating it altogether.
"Congress's Idea To Ensure Poverty Becomes Uniform"
"The poor remain stricken with poverty, wealth creation stops and poverty becomes uniform. These policies sow discord and block every road to equity, they create hatred and destabilize the economic as well as social fabric of a nation," he said.
Sam Pitroda, the head of the Congress, fueled the controversy last week on the BJP's claims that the Congress is organizing a wealth transfer. The fire that the Congress has been attempting to put out was fueled by Mr. Pitroda's example of an inheritance tax in the United 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 per cent to his children, 55 per cent is grabbed by the government. That's an interesting law..." Mr Pitroda had said.
As a "sinister plan" of the Congress party, the Prime Minister stated that inheritance tax is a "very real" threat that "stands to hurt our nation irreversibly." The Congress's plan for a social-economic survey, or X-ray, to redistribute wealth was referred to by him as "a clear example of Maoist thinking and ideology."
"It is saddening to see the Congress party and its Yuvraj carrying forward such Maoist vision which is a recipe for disaster. You would have seen Yuvraj saying that we will do an X-ray. This X-ray is nothing but raiding every home. They will raid farmers to see how much land they possess. They will raid the common man to see how much wealth the person has earned through hard work. They will raid the ornaments of our women," he said.
"Our Constitution protects the property of all minorities. This means that when Congress talks of redistribution, it cannot touch the properties of minorities; it cannot consider Waqf properties for redistribution, but it will eye the properties of other communities. This will sow complete and irreversible communal disharmony," PM Modi said.
Regarding "Threat To Democracy"
In response to a question on the Opposition's criticism that the nation is becoming more of a "electoral autocracy" and that democracy is in danger, Prime Minister Modi stated that since the Opposition is unable to take power, they have begun to malign India internationally.
"They spread lies about our people, our democracy, and our institutions. India does not become an electoral autocracy if Yuvraj cannot automatically get power. Just because he has to fight elections and the people of India are not impressed by him doesn't make India less democratic. I don't think there are many takers for such charges in foreign capitals," PM Modi said.
