Sam Pitroda backs Cong's redistribution plan, slams Modi for misleading people

Even as the BJP doubled down on the wealth redistribution plan announced in the Congress manifesto, Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda backed the Congress saying that it is necessary to tackle inequality.

He also slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for misleading the people about the redistribution plan.

Modi had said that Congress would survey everyone's property, and "it will calculate gold belonging to mothers and sisters and then redistribute it". They "won't even spare your mangalsutra," he had added.

Responding to this, Pitroda said, "It doesn't mean we are going to take their wealth and give it to somebody. It means to create new policies. So the concentration of wealth can be prevented. It's like the Monopoly Act. How do you read that I don't understand?

He also pitched for a US-like inheritance tax in India, calling it an interesting law.

In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has $100 million worth of wealth and when he dies he can only transfer probably 45% to his children, 55% 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. In India, you don't have that. If somebody is worth 10 billion and he dies, his children get 10 billion and the public gets nothing."

"So these are the kind of issues people will have to debate and discuss. I don't know what the conclusion would be at the end of the day but when we talk about redistributing wealth, we are talking about new policies and new programs that are in the interest of the people and not in the interest of super-rich only."