Union minister Anurag Thakur joined his voice with Prime Minister Narendra Modi today to attack the Congress over the comments of its senior leader Sam Pitroda, alleging that the party’s secret plan is to tax people even after their deaths.
"I think the djinn has come out of the bottle," Anurag Thakur said, "They were anti-sanatan already, now they are anti-santan (anti-descendants) also".
The Congress's "hidden agenda" is out and exposed, he said. "Even after death they will keep up the extortion. After your death, your assets will not go to your children. Are your children secure in the Congress government?" he said.
The fresh row started over Sam Pitroda's comment that the inheritance tax in the US was an interesting law and could contain issues that people can debate.
If one has $100 million when he dies, he can only transfer probably 45 per cent to his children and the rest goes to the government, he said.
"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. In India, you don't have that," Mr Pitroda had said.
"If somebody is worth 10 billion and he dies, his children get 10 billion and people get nothing… So, these are the kind of issues people will have to debate and discuss," he said.
The issue was highlighted by PM Modi, who over the weekend had remarked that the Congress, if voted to power, will redistribute the personal wealth of people to "infiltrators" and won't even spare the mangalsutras of women.
Amid the massive row the comment caused, PM Modi said at a rally in Sarguja today that once voted back to power, the Congress will also introduce the inheritance tax in India.
"The wealth you accumulate with your hard work won't pass down to your children. The Congress's hand will snatch it. The Congress's mantra is 'loot during your lifetime, loot after your death'," the Prime Minister said. "As long as you live, Congress's high taxation will make you suffer. When you are dead, they will put the burden of inheritance tax," he added.
