NEW DELHI, Apr 22: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday reiterated his allegations against the Congress on the redistribution of wealth accusing the principal opposition party of harbouring intentions to seize citizens’ assets for their own gain. However, unlike during his speech in Rajasthan on Sunday, the Prime Minister on Monday refrained from saying that the redistributed wealth would benefit Muslims.
Addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh, Mr Modi said he wanted to ‘alert’ people about the ‘intentions’ of the Congress and the opposition-led INDIA bloc. “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.
A political row erupted on Sunday after PM Modi, while speaking at an election rally in Rajasthan, claimed that the Congress manifesto had pledged “redistribution” of wealth following a survey. He connected this with the former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s 2006 statement regarding Muslims having the “first claim” on the nation’s resources and accused the Congress of intending to transfer the assets of others to ‘infiltrators’ and “those who have more children.”
However, in Aligarh, PM Modi refrained from explicitly stating that the wealth would be distributed among Muslims. Additionally, he did not mention Manmohan Singh’s statement made nearly two decades ago.
Mr Modi said the Congress and the Samajwadi Party followed a policy of ‘appeasement’ without doing anything for the social and economic progress of Muslims. “The lives of a number of daughters were ruined due to triple talaq. We made a law against it and made the future of the daughters secure,” he said.
The Prime Minister also said the people of Aligarh had put a lock on dynastic politics, corruption and the appeasement practised by the two ‘shahzade’. The reference was to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and SP boss Akhilesh Yadav, who are fighting the Lok Sabha elections as allies.
PM Modi’s sharp attack on the opposition comes a day after his contentious remarks in Rajasthan’s Banswara which triggered a political controversy. “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,” PM Modi had said.
Congress, irked over the Prime Minister’s ‘lies’, met the Election Commission of India and demanded strict action. “The Prime Minister has clearly violated the model code of conduct and targeted the Constitution,” senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
