On Wednesday (24th April), Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications, Jairam Ramesh contradicted the statements of the Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s advisor Sam Pitroda after the latter suggested that a US-like inheritance tax should be brought in India. Ramesh posted his statement on X and said that Sam Pitroda’s comments are his personal view and should not be considered as INC’s views.
“Pitroda expresses his opinions freely on issues he feels strongly about. Surely, in a democracy, an individual is at liberty to discuss, express, and debate his personal views. This does not mean that Pitroda’s views always reflect the position of the Indian National Congress. Many times they do not,” Ramesh said in an X post.
“Sam Pitroda has been a mentor, friend, philosopher, and guide to many across the world, including me. He has made numerous, enduring contributions to India’s developments. He is the President of the Indian Overseas Congress. Sensationalizing his comments now and tearing them out of context are deliberate and desperate attempts at diverting attention away from Narendra Modi’s malicious and mischievous election campaign; which is anchored ONLY in lies and more lies,” he added.
This comes hours after Sam Pitroda suggested that a US-like inheritance tax should be brought in India amid outrage over the Congress party’s ‘wealth redistribution’ poll promise. Pitroda while explaining the inheritance tax claimed that in the US, 55% of the wealth is grabbed by the government when a person dies and the rest goes to the family, suggesting that Congress can bring a similar policy under its wealth redistribution promise.
“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…,” Pitroda said on Wednesday.
#WATCH | Chicago, US: Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress, Sam Pitroda says, "…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… pic.twitter.com/DTJrseebFk
— ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2024
“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 the super-rich only,” he added.
However, after Ramesh’s statement, Pitroda himself stated that whatever he talked about had nothing to do with Congress and that the statements he made were in a personal capacity. He further blamed the media for ‘twisting’ his statement. However, Pitroda’s statement about inheritance tax was not twisted, but presented as it is.
The senior Congress leader who is a trusted aide of Rahul Gandhi and organizes all his foreign visits and University talks, had literally stated that a similar inheritance tax should be brought to India, and hinted at policy change to bring the inheritance tax to make Congress’ wealth redistribution plans possible.
Congress’ wealth redistribution plan
As reported earlier, a major outrage erupted over Congress’s plans to do an economic survey to determine who owns how much wealth and redistribute it. PM Modi recently attacked the Congress party over this and asserted that Congress will redistribute the wealth to the infiltrators.
Sam Pitroda is not a nobody in Congress, but a very senior leader and close to Gandhi family
Sam Pitroda, short for Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, is the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress. He was born in Odisha’s Titilagarh in 1942. He moved to the US in 1964 and has been close to the Congress leadership since the time of Indira Gandhi.
He met the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1981 to discuss the development of the telecom sector in India. In 1987, he became an advisor to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi, and launched six technology missions while serving as the Chairman of the Telecom Commission and secretary of the Department of Telecom.
His loyalty to the Gandhi-Congress family has continued ever since. In his own words, he has a “bond with Rahul Gandhi”.
Pitroda says he has a good chemistry with Rahul Gandhi and accompanies him to several events in the US where the latter interacts with the people. “He has grown more confident. His message is well received. Yes, he is ready to interact (with the people) and he is ready to be himself. I won’t say I am guiding him; rather, I have conversations with him like the one I am having with you. We have good chemistry. I can talk openly with him,” Pitroda was quoted as saying.
