Will Congress ‘redistribute wealth’ as PM Modi claims?

Days before the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections take place — scheduled for 26 April — Prime Minister Narendra Modi has triggered a huge row with his speech in which he claims that the Congress manifesto promised that the party will redistribute wealth among “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”.

The comment has angered the Congress, which has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take action against the prime minister. The Grand Old Party said that the statements made by PM Modi are “divisive and malicious.”

“We respect the office he (PM Modi) holds; he is as much our PM as yours or the BJP. The higher the position he holds, the more the obligation he holds to exercise restraint. Unfortunately, the statement he quoted, it is seriously objectionable. We can never expect this from the PM. We would pray to him with folded hands to withdraw these comments and clarify,” said Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

What did the PM say? And more importantly, we take a closer look at what the Congress manifesto actually says.

What remarks did the PM make?

It all began on Sunday (21 April) when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Rajasthan to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Speaking in Banswara, Modi said: “This urban-naxal mindset, my mothers and sisters, they will not even leave your ‘Mangalsutra’.

“The Congress manifesto says they will calculate the gold with mothers and sisters, get information about it and then distribute that property. They will distribute it to whom — Manmohan Singh’s government had said that Muslims have the first right on the country’s assets,” he claimed.

“Earlier, when their (Congress) government was in power, they had said that Muslims have the first right on the country’s assets. This means to whom will this property be distributed? It will be distributed among those who have more children.

“It will distributed to the infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money go to the infiltrators? Do you approve of this?” he said.

The PM further asserted that the Congress manifesto was “worrying” as it is an attempt to implement the “ideology of Maoism on the ground”.

“It says that if a Congress government is formed, everyone’s property will be surveyed, the amount of gold our sisters have will be investigated and calculated. our tribal families have silver, which will be calculated… This gold and other assets will be distributed equally to everyone.

“Is it acceptable to you? Do governments have the right to confiscate your property which you have earned through hard work? The gold with our mothers and sisters is not for showing off, it is related to their self-respect.”

After he made the initial claims on Sunday, the PM reiterated similar assertions in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh. He accused the Congress of planning to redistribute people’s property if it is voted to power.

“The Congress ‘shahzade’(prince) says if his government comes, they will investigate who earns how much and how much property they have. Not only this, he further says the government will take over the property and redistribute it. This is what their election manifesto is saying,” the prime minister claimed, referring to Rahul Gandhi.

“Just think, our mothers and daughters have gold. This is ‘stridhan’ (women’s property). It is considered sacred, even the law protects it. But now they are eyeing a change in law and snatching the property of our mothers and sisters,” he said.

What does the Congress manifesto say?

But does the Congress manifesto talk of wealth redistribution as the PM claims? On 5 April, the Congress had released its manifesto , dubbed the ‘Nyay Patra’, in which the party prominently focused on the themes of social justice and equity.

The Mallikarjun Kharge-led party makes no claim of wealth redistribution in its 48-page long manifesto. However, the manifesto does state that if the Congress came to power, it would “address the growing inequality of wealth and income through suitable changes in policies”.

It promises to conduct a “nation-wide socio-economic and caste census to enumerate the castes and sub-castes and their socio-economic conditions”, adding that “based on the data, we will strengthen the agenda for affirmative action”.

The party also vowed to pass a constitutional amendment to remove the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent cap on reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC).

On the issue of minorities, the Congress had said in its manifesto that the “economic empowerment of minorities is a necessary step for India to realise its full potential. We will ensure that banks will provide institutional credit to minorities without discrimination.”

Additionally, it stated, “we will ensure that the minorities receive their fair share of opportunities in education, healthcare, public employment, public works contracts, skill development, sports and cultural activities without discrimination.”

What about Rahul Gandhi’s past comments?

It’s important to note here that the PM made a mention of Rahul Gandhi in his remarks. So, what did the Gandhi scion say?

On 9 March, the Congress leader following the revelations of the Bihar caste survey had said: “The figures that have come from Bihar are just a small glimpse of the real picture of the country. We do not even have an idea about the conditions in which the poor population of the country is living. That is why we are going to take two historic steps – caste count, economic mapping, on the basis of which we will uproot the 50 per cent cap on reservation.”

Then on 6 April, a day after the Congress released its manifesto, Rahul Gandhi in a rally in Hyderabad had said: “We will first conduct a nationwide caste census to determine how many people belong to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and minorities. After that, we will conduct a financial and institutional survey in a historic step to ascertain the distribution of wealth,” he said.

“Subsequently, we will take up the historic assignment to distribute the wealth of India, jobs and other welfare schemes to these sections based on their population,” he added.

What is Congress saying now?

The PM’s comments have infuriated the Congress. On Monday, party leader Mallikarjun Kharge requested a meeting with Narendra Modi to “inform him” about their election manifesto document.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera in a video statement on X said PM Modi has been telling “lies after lies” just to win elections.

The Congress also approached the EC, urging the poll body to act against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making “deeply objectionable” comments about Muslims that violated election laws.

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi speaking to reporters said, “We have asked the Election Commission to state that this is the position in law,” Singhvi told reporters, urging it to act against Modi in the same way it would against anyone else accused of similar offences.

Even other Opposition leaders called out the PM for his remarks. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who is also a part of the Opposition bloc INDIA, stated: “Not only the country but the whole world also knows Prime Minister Narendra Modi lies, the way how he spread lies about the Congress’ ‘Nyay Patra’.”

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi also made a scathing criticism of the PM on X. He wrote, “Modi today called Muslims infiltrators and people with many children. Since 2002 till this day, the only Modi guarantee has been to abuse Muslims and get votes. If one is talking about the country’s wealth, one should know that under Modi’s rule the first right to India’s wealth has been of his wealthy friends. One per cent of Indians own 40 per cent of the country’s wealth. Common Hindus are made to fear Muslims while their wealth is being used to enrich others.”

With inputs from agencies