EC must act, give notice to PM Modi: Kapil Sibal on PM's Rajasthan speech

Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'Congress will redistribute wealth' remarks, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Monday, 22 April, said political discourse had never sunk to such a low in India's history and urged the Election Commission to take action in the matter.

Sibal's attack came a day after the prime minister suggested that if the Congress comes to power, it would redistribute wealth of people to Muslims and cited former PM Manmohan Singh's remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country's resources.

"After the PM's speech, crores of people will be disappointed. Probably no other prime minister has given such a statement since 1950. The speech points out that our minorities who have been living in India for years are infiltrators. What kind of politics is this?" Sibal said at a press conference in New Delhi.

"What kind of culture is this? You talk of Ram Mandir, inaugurate the temple, talk about Ram's ideals and on the other hand you spread hate. Where is 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas, sabka vishvaas'. You cannot maintain India by being the groom of hate," Sibal said, slamming the prime minister for his remarks.

Sibal said he was deeply disappointed with the remarks because he respects the post of the PM and the person sitting on it.

"But when the PM is not worthy of respect then the intellectuals of the country should come forward," he asserted.

Sibal also questioned RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's silence on the remarks.

"We oppose the RSS and will do so in future but I also know that the RSS has not taught these things to Modi, it is not their culture. Where has this come from," the former Congress leader said.

Sibal said that the prime minister talked about wealth at a time when over 40 per cent of the country's wealth is in the hands of one per cent of the population.

"He states that the Congress will give the wealth to infiltrators. Do the 20 per cent people of the country don't matter. Never in India's history, has political discourse touched such a low," Sibal said.

He said he wants to ask the Election Commission as to why it has not taken any action on Modi's speech.

"You (EC) should condemn this statement, give a notice to Modi, direct channels to not repeat this, file a case under IPC 153A. Election Commission should not forget that it has sworn on the Constitution. If they violate that and stand with such speeches, it will neither be good for them nor the country," the Rajya Sabha MP said.

Hitting out at the PM, Sibal accused him of speaking "untruths".

"The Congress and particularly Manmohan Singh never had the intention that the country's wealth goes to one community. They always strived that the SCs, STs, deprived, minorities are uplifted which is the right thing," the former minister in the UPA government said.

"By giving such inciting speeches and spreading hate it means that you have forgotten 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas', and nobody has 'vishvaas' in you," Sibal said.

Speeches should be made on development issues and progress of the country, he asserted.

Earlier in a post on X, Sibal said, "PM accuses Congress: Says: If they come to power they could distribute the nation’s wealth to infiltrators; those 'who have more children..should your hard earned money be given to infiltrators'."

"I expect nothing better from our PM! But I feel sad for my country," he said

Addressing a rally in Rajasthan's Banswara, Modi alleged the Congress plans to give people's hard-earned money and valuables to "infiltrators" and "those who have more children".

In his remarks in Rajasthan, Modi said, "The Congress manifesto says they will calculate the gold with mothers and sisters, get information about it and then distribute that property. They will distribute it to whom - Manmohan Singh's government had said that Muslims have the first right on the country's assets."

"Earlier, when their (Congress) government was in power, they had said that Muslims have the first right on the country's assets. This means to whom will this property be distributed? It will be distributed among those who have more children," the prime minister had said.

Addressing the 52nd Meeting of the National Development Council in 2006, Singh had said, "I believe our collective priorities are clear. Agriculture, irrigation and water resources, health, education, critical investment in rural infrastructure, and the essential public investment needs of general infrastructure, along with programmes for the upliftment of SC/STs, other backward classes, minorities and women and children."

The component plans for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will need to be revitalised, Singh had said.

"We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources. The Centre has a myriad other responsibilities whose demands will have to be fitted within the over-all resource availability," he had said.

"The Planning Commission will of course undertake a thorough review of ongoing programmes to eliminate those which have outlived their original rationale, but we cannot escape from the fact that the Centre’s resources will be stretched in the immediate future and an increasing share of the responsibility will have to be shouldered by the states," Singh had said.