"Pitroda has done an x-RAY of Congress manifesto": BJP's Sudhanshu Trivedi attacks Congress on inheritance tax controversy

NEW DELHI: National Spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sudhanshu Trivedi, on Wednesday addressed a press conference and stepped up the attack on Sam Pitroda saying that Pitroda has done such an x-ray of the Congress manifesto, that now even Rahul Gandhi cannot say anything.

Criticising Sam Pitroda's remarks on distributing wealth to the government in the US, Sudhanshu Trivedi said, "We are a savings based economy... Who motivates the savings? The big think-tanks of the world have said that family and generational wealth motivates savings. That means, what assets you will leave for your children and grandchildren, that motivates savings."

He further said, "One generation works hard to make money, then second generations make something out of it and then the third generation receives the benefits but the Congress wants to snatch their happiness."

Trivedi also attacked the Congress' manifesto and raised questions about the photos included in the manifesto. "I want to make people remember that they had photos of the foreign nations in their manifesto. They had taken the picture of the Buffalo state and said that this is the pollution in India. Now it's clear that it was not a mistake but a deliberate act and that their minds are fixed on foreign things."

Trivedi also questioned which foreign powers are motivating Congress "... The future of the dollar as a hard currency is now not secure. They raised their rate of interest but still nothing happened. Now, gold is moving forward in the form of hard currency. And gold is mostly purchased in India. On an average, every year, 700 tons of gold is purchased in India.... Even the poorest of the poor says that he wants to buy gold. Be it 2-4 tola but there should be some gold. And you want to levy 45% tax on that savings."

He added further, "I want to ask this seriously, in future, gold can be the biggest base of hard currency in India and they are talking of destroying that base. Are they a part of a big political conspiracy?

Talking about the Indian heritage and the association of gold with it, Trivedi said, "In our culture, gold is not an asset... During worship, gold is used. During marriages, the poorest of the poor give gold... PM through his Jan Dhan yojana transferred money to 54 crore Indians... and you want to snatch it away?... When it comes to the heritage of India, they lay their evil eyes on it."

Earlier, emphasising the need for policy towards wealth distribution, Pitroda spoke about the concept of inheritance tax prevailing in the US.

"In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has 100 million USD worth of wealth and when he dies, he can only transfer probably 45% to his children while 555 is grabbed by the government. That's an interesting law. It says you in your generation made wealth and you are leaving now, you must leave your wealth for the public, not all of it, half of it, which to me sounds fair," Pitroda had said.