'This is Maovadi thinking': PM Modi targets Rahul Gandhi again over wealth redistribution

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday again targeted former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi over his promise of wealth survey in the country. He warned the people that Congress had set its eyes on earnings and property and that they would take it away and redistribute.   

"I want to warn the countrymen. Congress and the INDI alliance have their eyes on your earnings and your property. The 'Shehzada' of Congress says that if their government comes to power, they will investigate who earns how much, who has how many properties," he said while addressing a public rally in Aligarh. 

"Our mothers and sisters have gold. It is 'stree dhan', it is considered sacred, and the law also protects it. Now these people's eyes are on the 'Mangalsutra' of women. Their intention is to steal the gold of mothers and sisters. If you have an old ancestor's home in your village and you also purchased a small flat in your city for the future of your children. Then they will take away one of the two. This is Maovadi thinking, this is the thinking of communists. By doing this they have already ruined many countries. Now this same policy the Congress Party and INDI alliance want to implement in India," the prime minister said. 

Rahul Gandhi earlier this month said that the Congress if voted to power will conduct a financial and institutional survey to ascertain the distribution of wealth among the people in the country. Addressing a rally in Hyderabad after releasing the Congress manifesto, Gandhi said the survey will be conducted apart from a nationwide caste census that the party has promised.

"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.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Modi slammed the Congress saying if it came to power, it would redistribute the wealth of people to "those who have more children". He cited former PM Manmohan Singh's remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country's resources. "This urban-naxal mindset, my mothers and sisters, they will not even leave your 'Mangalsutra'. They can go to that level," PM Modi said addressing a rally in Rajasthan's Banswara. 

"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 to 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 Congress, however, said it does not talk about "redistribution" and that it favours a "comprehensive socio-economic caste census". The grand old party also asserted that Rahul Gandhi did not promise redistribution of the nation's wealth in Hyderabad on 7 April 2024 and that his words were "misrepresented".