Congress Disassociates Itself from Sam Pitroda’s Comments on Inheritance Tax Following BJP Criticism

The Congress party has distanced itself from the personal views expressed by Sam Pitroda regarding inheritance tax, stating that his comments do not represent the party’s stance. Jairam Ramesh, a member of the party, posted on social media, “Sam Pitroda, the President of the Indian Overseas Congress, has been a mentor, friend, philosopher, and guide to many, including myself. He has made numerous, enduring contributions to India’s development. Pitroda freely expresses his opinions on issues he feels strongly about. 

In a democracy, an individual has the liberty to discuss, express, and debate his personal views. However, this does not mean that Mr. Pitroda’s views always reflect the position of the Indian National Congress. Often, they do not. Sensationalizing his comments now and taking them out of context are deliberate and desperate attempts to divert attention away from Narendra Modi’s malicious and mischievous election campaign, which is anchored solely in lies.”

In an interview with ANI, amid a heated debate over the Congress party’s alleged wealth distribution plan after coming to power, Sam Pitroda, the president of the Indian Overseas Congress, called for a policy regarding the distribution of wealth among the poor and spoke about the inheritance tax in the US. He said, “In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has 100 million USD worth of wealth and when he dies, he can only transfer probably 45 per cent to his children, 55 per cent is taken 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. So these are the kinds of issues people will have to debate and discuss. 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.”