The Congress’ wealth distribution plan has kicked up a storm in this Lok Sabha election. In 1953, then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s government brought the inheritance tax under the Estate Duty Act as it found that there were inequalities in wealth. The Act, also known as ‘Death Tax’ was imposed on the principal value of movable and immovable property, including agricultural land, which a person inherited after the death of the owner of the property. The Act was abolished in 1985 by the government of Rajiv Gandhi when he became Prime Minister. Now Congress which is talking about wealth distribution appears to be taking an about-turn from what Manmohan Singh, the then Finance Minister in P V Narasimha Rao’s government did in 1991.
While releasing the Congress party’s election manifesto at a public meeting in Tukkuguda in Telangana on April 6, Rahul Gandhi stressed: “Jitni aabadi, utna haq”. He said: “First, we will conduct a caste census to know the exact population and status of backward castes, SCs, STs, minorities. After that, the financial and institutional survey will begin. Then, we will take up the historic assignment to distribute the wealth, create jobs.” The Congress party’s manifesto and Rahul Gandhi’s plan to map everyone’s assets and then equally divide them have provided vital ammunition to the BJP. The BJP has called it divisive and a reflection of the Congress’ appeasement politics.
What has given credence to this is the statement by Sam Pitroda, a close aide of the Gandhi family and Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, who highlighted the importance of wealth redistribution policies, citing the US laws. Though the Congress later distanced itself from Pitroda’s comments, the cat is already out of the bag. Rahul Gandhi’s pledge to pursue ‘jitni abadi utna haq’ and his X-ray plan to detect peoples’ wealth has set the middle-class thinking. His wealth distribution plan has worried those who own or inherited property from their parents or grandparents, especially the middle class who work hard, take loans to build new nests and create assets after paying taxes.
The Congress may believe that inheritance, redistribution, and reservation could be its three mantras for progress. But, in doing so, the grand old party runs the risk of widening its gap from the masses. What the Congress wants to do is what is at the core of Communist philosophy, which believes in redistribution of wealth. Communists all over the world have failed. The crumbling of the erstwhile Soviet Union is the best example of this failure. China, another communist power, was forced to adopt changes and has space for private capital. The East European bloc, too, has suffered immensely. Rahul Gandhi needs to take a look at history including the positives of the liberal economic model of 1991 initiated by his own Congress government.
