On 21st April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an attack on the opposition, especially the Congress Party amid the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections 2024. In his address at a public meeting in Rajasthan, PM Modi pointed out Congress plans to do an economic survey to find out who owns how much wealth and asserted it will be redistributed to Muslims, particularly the infiltrators.
PM Modi warned that the Congress Party plans to take away the wealth of poor families and would not even leave the Mangalsutra of married women. Evidently, Congress, left, liberals and Islamists got rattled by PM Modi’s statement and started calling it fearmongering, divisive politics and whatnot. Notably, PM Modi pointed out that it was written in the manifesto that the Congress Party would do all these things and if one carefully reads the manifesto, his warning is backed by evidence.
कांग्रेस की अर्बन नक्सल सोच की नजर अब मेरी माताओं-बहनों के मंगलसूत्र पर है। क्या ऐसी कांग्रेस पर मेरे परिवारजन कभी भरोसा करेंगे। pic.twitter.com/sdPRObgbha
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 21, 2024
First of all, it is essential to note that since former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh claimed minorities, particularly Muslims, have the first right to the resources of the country, the Congress Party has faced a lot of backlashes. Singh’s statement from 2006 comes back to haunt the grand old party more often than it can digest. Media houses like The Lallantop tried to twist what Singh said in his statement claiming his words were misinterpreted but the truth comes out much easier with access to videos and text of the statement.
"We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources."
— BJP (@BJP4India) April 21, 2024
– Dr Manmohan Singh, 9th Dec, 2006
The Congress doesn’t trust their… https://t.co/MWAf8uP23N pic.twitter.com/EDAKfasXT8
Ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, Congress leader and possibly grand old party’s PM Face, Rahul Gandhi, launched a project to woo SC/ST/OBC communities. He has promised to do a caste census and socio-economic survey to understand “where the wealth” of the country is “stored”. Though the Congress manifesto does not talk directly about wealth redistribution, Gandhi has repeatedly and openly propagated the idea. On 6th April, during a rally at Hyderabad, Rahul Gandhi, stressing on the party’s “Jitni aabaadi utna haq” slogan and said, “We will first conduct a nationwide caste census to determine how many people belong to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and minorities. After that, we will conduct a financial and institutional survey in a historic step to ascertain the distribution of wealth.”
Furthermore, there are sections and sub-sections in the manifesto that hint towards the sinister plan. As we discuss the Congress manifesto, it is essential to understand that Congress has been very careful about using specific words in the document, especially Muslims. Interestingly, the word “Muslim” did not come even once in the manifesto. As a matter of fact, they did not use any words like Hindu, Christian or others. The same goes with other parties as they also avoid using direct reference to religion, most probably due to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
However, there are other ways to differentiate between minorities of the Hindu community and other minorities in the country. For instance, Congress used caste, SC/ST and similar words or phrases to talk about minorities in the Hindu community. However, in other sections, it used an umbrella term “minorities”. It is a fact, which was clear by Singh’s 2006 statement, that when it comes to “minorities”, Congress prefer Muslims.
Now coming to the manifesto. Under the Section Equity on page 5 of the manifesto, the first point reads, “Congress will conduct a nationwide Socio-Economic and Caste Census to enumerate the castes and sub-castes and their socio-economic conditions. Based on the data, we will strengthen the agenda for affirmative action.” This is the first, open “hint” that Congress is all set to find out who owns how much wealth.
Notably, Congress never mentioned how it would work. Rahul Gandhi simply said in his statement that it would be redistributed among those who do not have wealth. Interestingly, Gandhi or Congress did not explain what would be counted as wealth. Is the gold that families own would be counted? What about the family jewellery? What about the inherited property of the middle class the lower middle class or the poor families? There is always someone poorer in the society. What would Congress take away and to what extent?
Gandhi in his statement on wealth redistribution simply said “It will be redistributed”. However, he did not explain the process or anything related to it leaving a major loophole in the system they are planning to bring.
Now coming to the section “Religious And Linguistic Minorities”, sub-section 5 read, “The economic empowerment of minorities is a necessary step for India to realise its full potential. We will ensure that banks will provide institutional credit to minorities without discrimination.”
Here comes the interesting part. To understand Congress’s plan, we have to go back to Singh’s 2006 statement again. He had said, “We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources.” Congress thrived on appeasement politics for decades. From the Waqf Board to the Places of Worship Act or flipping the Supreme Court’s decision in the Triple Talaq matter by Rajiv Gandhi, the grand old party left no stone unturned to make the policies Muslim-centric.
In India, when most of the opposition parties talk about minorities, they talk about Muslims. Even though Muslims are the second largest part of the population and communities like Jain, Sikh and Christians among others are the true minorities, appeasement politics thrives exponentially under Congress rule.
Congress also wants to abolish the cap of 50% in reservations. There is a strong possibility that Congress will take one step ahead and introduce Muslims under SC/ST and OBC communities to give them reservations as direct reservations to Muslims often draw criticism. In short, Muslims are the largest religious minority group. If Congress is talking about religious minorities, in most probability the benefits will go to Muslims.
Again, under the same section, sub-section 6, it reads, “We will ensure that the minorities receive their fair share of opportunities in education, healthcare, public employment, public works contracts, skill development, sports and cultural activities without discrimination.”
It makes Congress’s plan clearer. The fair share directly hints towards increasing reservations in different sectors. Congress has a history of taking shortcuts and if anyone believes Congress will develop infrastructure to eliminate the root cause of discrimination, they won’t. The easiest way out here is to announce reservations in the abovementioned sectors.
While merit should be prioritised in all sectors, appeasement politics never let it happen. Lok Sabha Elections 2024’s results are almost 1.5 months away. Remember, wealth redistribution is a well-tried formula that has failed miserably worldwide.
