Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Congress after Sam Pitroda advocated for a US-style inheritance tax amid the ongoing debate over wealth redistribution. The comments have further fuelled an already-raging controversy over Rahul Gandhi’s promise to conduct a wealth survey if the Congress won the Lok Sabha election.

PM Modi was speaking at a public meeting in Chhattisgarh’s Surguja, where he alleged that the Congress wants to fill its own coffers by imposing ever higher taxes and not allowing people to pass on their hard-earned wealth to their children.

The Prime minister said the advisor (Sam Pitroda) of the prince and the royal family had said some time ago that more taxes should be imposed on the middle class.  He said the Congress party says that it will impose an inheritance tax, and it will also impose tax on the inheritance received from parents. PM Modi added the children will not get the wealth that their parents accumulate through their hard work, rather the Congress party will snatch it away from them.

PM Modi said Pitroda’s remarks have exposed the dangerous intentions of the Congress.  He took a veiled jibe at the Congress and said the party has only one mantra – to loot people zindagi ke sath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi (in life and even after death).

 The prime minister did not take any names and targeted the Gandhi family and said, those people who considered the entire Congress party as their ancestral property and handed it over to their children, now do not want Indians to pass on their property to their younger generations.

Indian Overseas Congress chairman Sam Pitroda while talking to the media backed his party’s stand on redistribution of wealth and called for a policy for the same while citing the concept of inheritance tax prevailing in some American states.

Yoga guru Ramdev and his aide Acharya Balkrishna on Wednesday published a fresh bigger apology in leading newspapers for misleading advertisements of Patanjali’s medicinal products. This time, the apology was bigger in size after the Supreme Court pulled up Patanjali’s Ramdev and Balkrishna for not prominently displaying it earlier.

In the apology published, Ramdev and Balkrishna said they unconditionally apologise in their individual capacity as well as on behalf of Patanjali Ayurved for the non-compliance or disobedience of directions/orders of the Supreme Court of India. The apology said that they earnestly apologise for the mistake made in publishing their advertisements and it is their whole-hearted commitment that such mistakes will not be made again in the future.

During a hearing of the contempt proceedings related to the misleading ads case on Tuesday, the Supreme Court had asked Ramdev and Balkrishna if the size of the apology published in newspapers by Patanjali was similar to full-page advertisements for its products.

Ramdev and Balkrishna had told the Supreme Court Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah that they issued unqualified public apology in as many as 67 newspapers over the issue of misleading ads and they were willing to publish additional apologies for expressing their mistake. The duo said that the cost of the advertisements is Rs 10 lakh.

The Supreme Court bench asked why the apology had been published after one week, just ahead of the case hearing. Justice Kohli also asked if the size of the apology published was the same size as their advertisements? The court also ordered Patanjali to collate the ads and submit them before the Supreme Court bench.

The bench further added that the size of the apologies should not be enlarged and should be supplied to them.  The Supreme Court bench wanted to see the actual size. The bench added that they want to see that when they issue an ad it does not mean they have to see it by a microscope.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday took a U-turn on his wealth survey remark and said he only wanted to find out the amount of injustice the nation was facing. Rahul Gandhi was addressing Congress’s Social Justice Conference at Delhi’s Jawahar Bhawan where he clarified that he has not said Congress will take action yet. He said   that he was just saying that they will find out how much injustice has been done.

Gandhi further added that everyone should look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reaction and said that the moment he said let’s test how much injustice has been done the BJP started saying that this is an attempt to break down the country. The former Congress chief said through the X-ray (wealth survey), the Congress will get to know the root cause of problem.

Gandhi said it is his life’s mission to ensure justice for the 90 % of the population against whom injustice has been done. He alleged Injustice is being done to 90 percent of Indians and the moment he called for checking this injustice, PM Modi and the BJP started attacking him. Gandhi further added that as soon as the INDIA Bloc will form its government the first thing that would be done is caste census.

On April 7, Rahul Gandhi said Congress, if voted to power, would conduct a financial and institutional survey to ascertain the distribution of wealth among the people in the country. Rahul Gandhi was addressing a public rally in Hyderabad after releasing the Congress’s manifesto where he said the survey will be conducted apart from a nationwide caste census that the party has promised if voted to power.

The former Congress chief also spoke about the Ram Mandir inauguration, and said, not a single Dalit, or a tribal was seen at the temple, or during the inauguration of the new Parliament building. He said 90% of the population understands this.