Cong plans to tax middle class to fund Nyay: Modi

In a multi-pronged attack on the Congress party, especially its president Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday equated the latter to an "expert pickpocket" who lies incessantly because he is burdened by his father's alleged involvement in the Bofors scam.

Modi, in his speech at a campaign rally at an indoor stadium near Panaji, accused the Congress party of being anti-middle class, while slamming its leaders' involvement in defence deals.

"Sometimes I think, why does he lie so much? I suspect that perhaps the sins of his father from the Bofors deal are weighing on his mind. In order to wash them, he is smearing the same sins on the rest of the world," Modi said.
Likening Gandhi — while referring to him only as 'Naamdaar' — to an "expert pickpocket" who plays innocent after committing theft, Modi said, that the Congress president played the same ploy, after meeting late chief minister Manohar Parrikar during a courtesy visit in January, when the latter was being treated for pancreatic cancer.

"When he stepped out, he uttered such white lies, that one cannot even imagine... In such a health situation, Parrikar had to come out to clarify the canards spread by the liars. Such a huge lie was caught, his face appeared innocent. There was not a frown on his brow," Modi added.

Criticising the contents of the Congress election manifesto, with a slanted reference to Gandhi's flagship 'Nyay' scheme, Modi said the document proved that the Congress wanted to tax the middle class for electoral gain. Modi added that the tax-paying middle class were the driving engine of India's economic development.

Modi said that top Congress leaders including 'AP' and the 'family' had made money on defence deals, and every defence deal executed during the Congress' tenure in power was tainted.