From Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterating in his election speeches about Congress distributing wealth to Muslims to a former Chief Minister being barred from campaigning for 48 hours in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, here’s the list of controversies as campaigning for the general elections goes on.
PM Modi’s ‘distribute wealth to Muslims’, ‘snatch mangal sutra’ jibe at Congress
Addressing an election rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that if the Congress was voted to power, they would distribute the country’s wealth to “infiltrators” and those “who have more children”.
“Earlier, when they (the Congress) were in power, they had said Muslims have the first right to the wealth of the nation. This means they will distribute this wealth to those who have more children, to infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money be given to infiltrators?” he had said.
“Congress’s manifesto says they will take stock of the gold mothers and daughters have, and will distribute that wealth. Manmohan Singh’s government had said Muslims have the first right to wealth. Brothers and sisters, this Urban Naxal thinking will not spare even the mangal sutras of my mothers and sisters,” he added.
However, the Congress manifesto says no such thing.
Sam Pitroda ‘inheritance tax’ controversy
During an interview, chairman of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda said that the inheritance tax in America was an interesting law and it could be debated and discussed.
“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 and 55% goes to the government. That’s an interesting law.”
He had added: “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 people get nothing… So, these are the kind of issues people will have to debate and discuss.”
The remarks sparked a massive row with the BJP alleging that the Congress now wants to “grab one’s hard-earned tax payed resources”.
However, Pitroda later said that his remarks were twisted.
“It is unfortunate that what I said as an individual on inheritance tax in the US is twisted by Godi media to divert attention from what lies PM is spreading about Congress manifesto. PM’s comments Mangal Sutra & gold snatching is simply unreal,” he wrote on X.
Amit Shah’s ‘doctored’ video
An alleged doctored video of Home Minister Amit Shah shared on social media handles of Telangana Congress caused a massive stir, with Telangana Chief Minister and Congress leader Revanth Reddy also been summoned as part of the probe on April 30.
In the manipulated video, Shah appears to be suggesting that reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), and Scheduled Tribes (STs) will be scrapped. The circulated video was purportedly altered using deepfake technology to give the impression that Shah was advocating for the removal of all reservations, including those for SCs and STs.
However, Shah has previously indicated that the BJP intends to eliminate the 4 per cent reservation for Muslims in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the Cyber Crime unit of Delhi Police investigating the case has been informed by Telangana CM’s lawyer that Reddy had no role in creating or spreading the alleged video.
EC bars KCR from campaigning for 48 hours
In one of its strongest actions during this poll season, the Election Commission of India (ECI) banned Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief and former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao from election campaigning, including holding processions and rallies for 48 hours from 8 PM on Wednesday (May 1).
KCR had allegedly made objectionable remarks against Congress at a press conference in the Sircilla district on April 5.
The ECI said that his statements violated the Model Code of Conduct.
The ECI received a response from the former state CM on April 23 to its show cause notice, and he said that the officers in charge of the election in Telangana and Sircilla are not Telugu people and they hardly understand the local dialect.
“The complaint is made by the Congress by picking some sentences from the press conference out of context. The English translation of the sentences is not correct and is twisted,” he said.
Prior to KCR, on April 16, the poll body had issued a show cause notice to Surjewala for allegedly making “vulgar” remarks about Hema Malini and banned him from campaigning for 48 hours.