Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday suggested that if the Congress comes to power, it would redistribute the wealth of people to Muslims. Addressing a Lok Sabha poll rally in Rajastha’s Banswara, PM Modi cited former PM Manmohan Singh’s remark about minorities having the first claim on the country’s resources and said the Congress will even snatch ‘mangalsutras‘ from women and give it to ‘infiltrators’.Slamming the grand old party, he said, “They have said that if the Congress government comes into power, it will survey everyone’s property. They will investigate how much gold our sisters have… Our Adivasi families own silver. How much silver they have will be recorded. They will check how much property and money the government employees own. This is not it, they also said that the gold owned by our sisters and their other properties will be equally redistributed.” Modi was referring to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s statement from earlier this month, where he said that if voted into office in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress would conduct a financial and institutional survey to ascertain who is in possession of the wealth of the country, and would then undertake an exercise to redistribute the same.Addressing the crowd in Banswara, Modi asked people if they agreed with Congress’ plan.“Do you agree with this? Does the government have the right to seize your property?… In the lives of our mothers and sisters, gold is not just for show-off. It is associated with their pride. Their Mangalsutra is not just a matter of gold value. It is associated with the dreams of her life. You are talking about taking it away,” he said.PM Modi further said that after seizing the common man’s property, it will be redistributed to those with more children, a reference to Muslims. Advertisement “Earlier, when their government was in power, they said that Muslims have the first ownership of countries’s property. This means that after collecting everyone’s property, they will distribute it to people who have more children. They will distribute it to infiltrators…Should your hard-earned money go to infiltrators? Do you agree to this?… Mothers and sisters, this ideology of urban naxals would not even leave your Mangalsuta with you,” he added. He also accused the Congress party of ignoring the welfare of tribals, saying it could not find a single person from the Adivasi community who could be the President of the country during its 60-year rule.Modi said that the BJP is committed towards the welfare of the poor and works honestly, but the Congress sells “fear, hunger and corruption in its shop”.He alleged that the Congress has always instilled fear among the Dalits, tribals and minorities and is now spreading lies about democracy, the Constitution and reservation to scare them. “But the country is no longer in the grip of fear. That is why their lies are no longer working. In the states with considerable tribal population, the Congress is ousted from power or has been relegated to the third or fourth position… There is anger among the tribal population and there are concrete reasons for it,” Modi said.Congress Hits back The Congress accused PM Modi of ‘lying’ about the grand old party’s manifesto promising to audit people’s wealth and redistribute it.Sharing a video of the PM’s speech in Banswara on X, senior Congress leader Pawan Khera said, “Look, my country’s Prime Minister is lying again.”While the Congress manifesto delves into the issue of economic inequalities, the party has asserted that it does not talk about “redistribution” and that it favours a “comprehensive socio-economic caste census”.The opposition party had also asserted that Rahul Gandhi did not promise redistribution of the nation’s wealth in Hyderabad on 7 April 2024 and that his words were “misrepresented”.The clarification from Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh came after Rahul Gandhi had reportedly talked about the need to conduct a survey for more equitable distribution of the country’s wealth.Ramesh also reshared his colleague Khera’s post on the microblogging site and wrote, “He cannot tell the truth even by mistake” referring to PM Modi.Stay Ahead With all the Lok Sabha Election 2024 Related Real-Time Updates At News18 Website.Sanstuti NathWith around five years of experience on the desk as well as reporting, Sanstuti Location: Banswara, Indiafirst published: April 21, 2024, 20:54 IST