Modi Interview | Here’s what the Prime Minister said on inheritance tax

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

During the ongoing campaigns for the Lok Sabha election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have sparked a debate on whether India should have inhertiance tax,  a levy on the transfer of wealth from one generation to another in the same family.

In an exclusive interview with Network18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, Modi said it is his responsibility to tell the people what the Opposition intends to do.

The PM and BJP leaders The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have based their charge — that there will be an inheritance tax if Congress and its allies win the election — on the promises in the Congress manifesto, which included a ₹1 lakh income guarantee each year for the women in poor households among other welfare measures.

While the congress denied any plan to introduce inheritance tax, the question it faced was where would the Indian government find the money for such generous welfare measures.

That’s when Sam Pitroda, the chairman of Indian Overseas Congress, remarked that if a member of the family dies, then some percentage of that money should be given to his heirs and the rest of the money should be deposited with the government to enable the transfer of wealth from the super rich to the poor in the country. 

Here is an excerpt from the interview

Q: At a rally in Rajasthan, you said that they have a scheme to distribute wealth. They want to find out who has how much money and gold and want to distribute it among Muslims and infiltrators. How real is this threat?

PM Modi: …One of their leaders gave an interview in America. He spoke about 55% tax on property. I am talking about viraasat and they are about looting it and wealth redistribution. That is their history. What else will they do? It is my responsibility to tell people that this is what they plan to do.

Q: Sam Pitroda ji spoke about inheritance tax on the wealth we save for our family when we give it to our next generation. This tax could be very high. Will you say that if BJP comes to power, it will never implement this tax?

PM Modi: What the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plans to do is written in our manifesto. How does the thought that we will carry forward their plan even come to your mind? The ideology of the Bharatiya Janata Party is clear. We go before the country with our manifesto and works. Please don’t impose their great thoughts on us.

Q: Rahul Gandhi has spoken about an X-ray or socio-economic survey, along with a caste census. The institutional survey will look at which sections are behind and they will redistribute the wealth accordingly…

PM Modi: People who consider themselves political experts should ask such people that if the conditions you describe are real, then you have been in power for 50-60 years. You gave birth to this. Why did you let it come to this? Secondly, X-ray means raiding every household, if any woman has hidden gold in utensils, even finding that and then redistributing it. This Maoist ideology has never helped the world. This is an entirely ‘Urban Naxal’ thought. This is why the Jamaat, which usually keeps writing, kept quiet about the manifesto even after 10 days because it will help them. They kept quiet to protect them. It then becomes my responsibility to awaken the country to the fact that they are planning to loot you. The next part is Dr Manmohan Singh has said clearly who has the first right to the country’s resources. They have clearly stated their intentions.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow