Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the former chief minister and BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Vidisha, said that inheritance tax was hidden agenda of Congress party. “Congress wants to end the tradition wherein an Indian gives something to his children after his death. Inheritance tax existed earlier but under public pressure, Congress abolished it after Indira Gandhi’s demise,” Chouhan told mediapersons here on Friday.
He said Rajiv Gandhi ended the inheritance tax so that he could get his mother’s property. “Congress should clarify its intentions,” he added. He said that Sam Pitroda, who stoked the controversy by talking about inheritance tax, was Rahul Gandhi’s teacher. “They are like Rahu and Ketu for Congress,” Chouhan said.
“Congress speaks of implementing inheritance tax and on other hand it talks about caste-based census. In how many parts you want to slice the country and society,” Chouhan demanded to know. The use of inheritance tax as a tool for redistribution of wealth to address income inequality has been discussed widely.
Over the years, India abolished estate duty, wealth tax and gift tax. ‘After Sam Pitroda, a former adviser to Rajiv Gandhi and an associate of Rahul Gandhi, described the inheritance tax in the United States as an “interesting law”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged on Wednesday that the Congress would snatch property left behind by people for their children — the party’s mantra, he said, was to “loot”, “zindagi ke saath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi (both when you are alive and when you are dead)”. As BJP leaders seized on Pitroda’s statement, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said there was no plan to introduce an inheritance tax and it was in fact Modi Sarkar that wanted to bring an inheritance tax.
