Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments against the Congress party’s pledge to redistribute wealth have sparked ongoing controversy. Modi doesn’t seem to be backing down, even after the Congress filed a protest with the Election Commission of India (SECI) on the Prime Minister’s claim that the party wants to share wealth among Muslims. In fact, during his remarks at his rallies on Wednesday, he is becoming more critical of the Congress on this issue.
Only two days after initially addressing the matter in the same state, the prime minister was back in Rajasthan on Monday.
In a 90-second part of his speech in Rajasthan, PM Modi said he had presented some truths to the country, which caused a rift in the Congress.
The Prime Minister restated the Congress’s goal of obtaining public property and dividing it among the “khaas log.” He exposed this as vote-bank tactics when he referred to it as the Congress’ hidden agenda.
The “Wealth Redistribution Survey” is not mentioned in the Congress and its leaders’ platform, but the BJP is using a video of Rahul Gandhi’s speech on April 6 at the manifesto announcement event, where he made a similar claim. Now, the prime minister is using Gandhi’s claim, saying that at a speech, their “neta” made a public declaration of their desire to share wealth.
By bringing up the quota issue and claiming that the Congress had previously pursued Muslim reservation, Modi further intensified his attack and raised doubts about their causes. He claimed that between 2004 and 2010, the Congress in Andhra Pradesh 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.
Modi took a jab, claiming that the Congress wanted to grant reservation to their “khaas jamaat,” which he claimed was unlawful since it would unjustly favour Muslims by decreasing SC-ST reservation.
The Prime Minister underlined that there would be no religious redistribution or elimination of reservations for underprivileged populations. He declared that he had made this commitment on an open platform.
Senior BJP leaders like Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath are pressing the Congress for clarification on the proposed exercise and the nature of the promised “financial and institutional survey” that Rahul Gandhi mentioned, as the controversy surrounding the “Wealth Redistribution” initiative keeps getting more and more heated.
Congress is worried about the Election Commission’s “independence and autonomy” and is waiting for the body to take action. The party also plans to give the prime minister copies of its manifesto.
