‘My father inherited martyrdom, not wealth’: Priyanka

BHOPAL: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent inheritance tax jibe aimed at her father and former PM Rajiv Gandhi, asserting, “It was not wealth, but the spirit of shahadat (martyrdom), which my father inherited from his mother.”

At a poll rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena, the Congress leader fired back at the Prime Minister while campaigning for party candidate Nitu Sikarwar.

“PM accused my father of being a traitor and having scrapped a law just to inherit his mother’s wealth. But not PM Modi, only you all present here who sent their children to guard the country’s borders can understand that my father (Rajiv Gandhi) didn’t inherit money and wealth from his mother (Indira Gandhi). He inherited the spirit of martyrdom,” she said.

Priyanka emotionally recounted the 1991 assassination of her father, adding that Modi will not understand the sacrifices made by her family.

“I was only 19 years old when I brought home pieces of my father’s body draped in the national tricolour. I was angry at the country then for not having saved my father, who sacrificed his life for the country,” she said.

“Now, I’m 52 and stating this fact publicly for the first time. But slowly, I realised that one only gets angry with someone he or she loves. How can I narrate how much we love our country when PM Modi terms by father a deshdrohi (traitor) on the public stage?” the Congress leader continued.

Last week, while addressing a rally in Morena, Modi had accused Rajiv of abolishing inheritance tax after coming to power to avoid taxation on the wealth inherited from his mother, Indira Gandhi.

“Listen with your ears wide open about the sins the Congress has committed. I want to put forth an interesting fact. When sister Indira Gandhi passed away, there was a law by virtue of which half of the wealth used to go to the government. There were talks then that Indiraji willed her wealth in her son Rajiv Gandhi’s name,” Modi had told the gathering.