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After Rahul Gandhi, his sister and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also spoke about a financial survey in India if the party is voted to power in the Lok Sabha polls. (Image: PTI/File)
This is only expected to sharpen PM Narendra Modi’s attacks as both the Congress leaders have now spoken about the “financial survey”, even though the party maintains it has not spoken about any wealth redistribution plan in its poll manifesto
After Rahul Gandhi, his sister and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has also spoken about a financial survey in India if the party is sworn to power in the Lok Sabha elections.
“Like my brother has been saying… a full count will be done of SC, ST and OBC population, and of everybody. We will ascertain who is earning how much… and then new policies will be made accordingly,” she said at a rally in Karnataka on Tuesday.
On April 6, Rahul Gandhi had also promised a “financial and institutional survey” after a caste and socioeconomic census and said the Congress will then undertake “revolutionary work” of giving people their rights.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been attacking the Congress for the past three days about the “wealth redistribution” promise by the party, linking it to the purported statement of then PM Manmohan Singh in 2006 that Muslims have the first right to the country’s resources.
Congress leader Rashid Alvi gave further ammunition to the prime minister on Tuesday as he echoed Manmohan Singh’s statement. “Former PM Manmohan Singh said people in the last line have first right on resources and, factually, Indian Muslims are in the last line… What objection can anybody have to this?” Alvi told news agency IANS.
This is expected to only sharpen Prime Minister Modi’s attacks against the Congress as both Rahul and Priyanka have now spoken about the said “financial survey”. The Congress party maintains that it has not spoken about any wealth redistribution plan in its manifesto, adding that even the word Muslim does not feature in its election document.
While the Congress and its leaders claim that their manifesto does not mention the “wealth redistribution survey”, the BJP is pointing to a video of Rahul’s April 6 speech, where he made a similar statement at an event to launch the manifesto. The PM is now referencing this statement, stressing that the Congress MP publicly declared the party’s intention to redistribute wealth.
Modi further escalated his attack by bringing in the reservation issue, alleging that the Congress had previously pursued Muslim reservation and casting doubt on their intention. He claimed that between 2004 and 2010, the Congress in Andhra Pradesh had made several attempts to implement reservation for Muslims as a pilot project, with plans for nationwide implementation.
“But the Supreme Court did not permit it,” he added.
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