“Naked communal appeal”: Tharoor on PM’s comment that Congress will distribute private wealth to Muslims

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], April 22 (ANI): Congress candidate from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor, termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment that Congress, if voted to power, would distribute people’s private wealth to Muslims as disgraceful.

“This is a very disgraceful speech made by the Prime Minister. The fact is that people realise that when he says that the Congress party is going to take all your wealth and give it to the Muslims, this is just a nakedly communal appeal, which normally any civilised Election Commission would disallow and warn the candidate for speaking like this. It is simply not decent,” Tharoor told ANI.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Congress party has plans to redistribute gold and hard-earned money to “illegal immigrants” and asked people whether this is acceptable to them or not.

“Congress manifesto says that it will calculate the gold owned by our mothers and sisters, collect information, and then distribute it to those whom former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that Muslims have the first right to country’s wealth. They will check how much gold our sisters own, how much silver tribal families have, and how much money government employees have there,” the PM said in an election rally in Rajasthan on Sunday.

Tharoor said that he was truly disappointed by the Prime Minister’s speech.

“The Congress party is constantly accused by Mr Modi of having ruled the country for 65 years. Have we taken away people’s wealth and given it to the Muslim community? How can the Prime Minister talk like this? I am truly disappointed,” he said.

Meanwhile, former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal asked whether 20 crore people in the country mattered to PM Modi or not, adding that Election Commission of India must issue notice to him over the comments.

Addressing a press conference, Kapil Sibal said, “You (PM Modi) are giving a speech that the Congress will give the properties of the women to infiltrators and terrorists. Do 20 crore people do not matter to him? Do they not have any aspirations? Politics has stooped down to such a level and it has not happened in history and I do not want it to happen. I want to ask a question to the Election Commission why action was not taken immediately. You (EC) should condemn it and a notice should be given to PM Modi.”

Sibal claimed that the Prime Minister made these remarks as he might have sensed that voting in phase 1 of the Lok Sabha elections has not gone BJP’s way.

“Recently, PM Modi gave a speech, it seems that the first phase of elections has not been in their favour. After that speech, I feel that a lot of people would be disappointed. I don’t think any Prime Minister have made such remarks since independence which indicates that minorities living here are intruders. What kind of politics and culture is this?” he said.

He also questioned the silence of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on the matter.

“We respect the post of Prime Minister and the person holding that post but when the PM is not worthy of respect, the intellectuals in the country should raise their voice. Mohan Bhagwat is silent. Why is he silent? We are against RSS but I feel RSS have not taught these things to Modiji,” he said.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Congress party has plans to redistribute gold and hard-earned money to “illegal immigrants” and asked people whether this is acceptable to them or not.

“They (Congress) have said that gold owned by our sisters would be equally distributed. Does the government have the right to take your hard-earned property?” PM Modi added.

Attacking the Congress party further, the Prime Minister claimed that the “Urban Naxal” thinking won’t even spare the ‘Mangalsutra’.

“When they (Congress) were in government, they said that Muslims have the first right over India’s resources. So, they will distribute this wealth (property and gold) among those having more children, among illegal immigrants…this Urban Naxal thinking won’t even spare your Mangalsutra,” he said.