“My Father Inherited Martyrdom, Not Wealth”: Priyanka Gandhi Responds To PM

Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra today said her father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, had not inherited wealth but martyrdom from his mother. “This is a feeling that Narendra Modi would never understand,” she said, shredding the Prime Minister’s comments on dynastic politics and inheritance tax.

PM Modi had said last week that Rajiv Gandhi had abolished inheritance tax after coming to power so that the wealth he had inherited from his mother would not be taxed.

Today, speaking at a rally in Morena, Madhya Pradesh, Ms Gandhi Vadra said, “When Modi-ji stands on the dais and calls my father a traitor, when he says he changed a law to take his inheritance from his mother… he would not understand that my father did not get any wealth by way inheritance, he only got the thoughts of martyrdom”.

“At the age of 19, when I brought home the mangled remains of my father, I was upset with this country. I thought, ‘I had sent my father. It was your job to ensure his safety. I placed him in your care, but you returned me his remains wrapped in the national flag’. I had misgivings. I know what is the meaning of martyrdom. Today I am 52 and this is the first time I’m talking about it in public,” she said.