"My father did not inherit wealth but spirit of martyrdom": Priyanka Gandhi hits back at PM Modi over inheritance tax claim

Morena (Madhya Pradesh) [India], May 2 : Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi scrapped inheritance laws so that she could inherit her mother, Indira Gandhi's wealth, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that her father did not inherit wealth from the country but the spirit of "martyrdom".
"PM Modi stood on the stage and accused my father of changing some laws to take inheritance from her mother...My father did not inherit wealth but the spirit of martyrdom. You can understand this feeling because you have sent your sons to the border. PM Modi cannot understand this sentiment...," Gandhi said while campaigning at Madhya Pradesh's Morena, referring to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by a suicide bomber in Tamil Nadu in 1991.
Sharing her personal feelings about the time when she received the remains of her father, Gandhi said that she was very angry with her country at that time but gradually she started to understand the meaning of martyrdom.
"When I brought the pieces of my father, I was angry with this country. I sent my father to you safely, and you returned him in pieces. But gradually, I understood the meaning of martyrdom. I know what martyrdom means...," Gandhi said.
Gandhi said that while the Narendra Modi government may regard the Gandhi family as "traitors" they will not be able to remove the feeling of "martyrdom" from their hearts.
"They may call us traitors, throw us out of the house, throw us out of the Parliament or do anything, but no one can remove this feeling from our hearts," Gandhi said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi scrapped the inheritance law during his tenure to save the wealth and family property that was to be taken by the government after the death of his mother Indira Gandhi.
Addressing an election rally in Morena, Prime Minister Modi said, "The facts relating to Inheritance Tax are eye-opening. When former PM Indira Gandhi died, her children were going to get her property. But there was a rule earlier, that before the property goes to the children some part of it was taken by the government. Congress had formulated a law on this. To save the property so that it does not go to the government, the then PM Rajiv Gandhi scrapped the inheritance law. After accumulating wealth over four generations, now they want to loot your wealth."