Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the Congress again of planning to redistribute people's property if it is voted to power, but stopped short of saying that the wealth would go to Muslims.
Addressing an election rally in western Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh, a constituency with a sizeable Muslim population, Modi accused the opposition Congress and the Samajwadi Party of following a policy of 'appeasement' and yet doing nothing to uplift the socio-economic condition of the community.
In contrast, he cited the enactment of a law against instant triple talaq and an increase in the Haj quota as moves during the Bharatiya Janata Party government's term to help the community.
On Sunday, the prime minister had triggered a political row by claiming that the Congress manifesto promised 'redistribution' of wealth after conducting a survey.
Citing former prime minister Manmohan Singh's 2006 remark on Muslims having the 'first claim' on the country's resources, Modi said in Rajasthan's Banswara that the Congress was set to hand over the wealth of others to 'infiltrators' and 'those who have more children'.
In Aligarh Monday, Modi repeated the point about redistribution of wealth, saying he wanted to 'alert' people about the 'intentions' of the Congress and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
"The Congress 'shahzade' (prince) says if his government comes, they will investigate who earns how much and how much property they have. Not only this, he further says the government will take over the property and redistribute it. This is what their election manifesto is saying," he claimed, referring to Rahul Gandhi.
"Just think, our mothers and daughters have gold. This is 'stridhan' (women's property). It is considered sacred, even the law protects it. But now they are eyeing a change in law and snatching the property of our mothers and sisters," he said.
"These people have their eyes on their 'manglasutras'," Modi added, accusing the opposition of trying to 'steal' the gold women possessed.
He claimed that the opposition planned to conduct a survey of the property owned by salaried people.
"If you own two homes, it will snatch one -- the Congress will go that far," he said.
"This is Maoist thinking... this is communist thinking. By doing this they have ruined so many countries. Now the Congress and the INDI Alliance want to implement the same policy in India," the prime minister said.
But, unlike in the Rajasthan speech that triggered the opposition charge of 'hate speech', Modi stopped short of saying that the wealth will be distributed among Muslims.
He also did not refer to Manmohan Singh's statement made nearly two decade back.
He said the Congress and the SP followed a policy of 'appeasement' without doing anything for the social and economic progress of Muslims, and also referred to the Pasmanda Muslims -- the backward sections among the community.
"The lives of a number of daughters were ruined due to triple talaq. We made a law against it and made the future of the daughters secure," he said.
Attacking the opposition, he said the 'parivarwadi' people have created empires by 'looting' people and not giving anything to the poor from their 'immense wealth'.
"Now their eyes have fallen on the property of people of the country. The Congress considers it as their birthright to loot people's wealth," he charged.
The PM said the people of Aligarh had put a lock on dynastic politics, corruption and the appeasement practised by the two 'shahzade'.
The reference was to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, who are fighting the Lok Sabha elections as allies.
He referred to law and order in Uttar Pradesh and the security situation on the country's borders earlier when 'our brave sons were martyred every day'.
"Today all this has stopped. Earlier, terrorists used to explode bombs, serial blasts took place. Even Ayodhya and Kashi were not spared. Bomb blasts used to happen every day in big cities, now there has been a full stop on serial bomb attacks," he said.
"What we did in 10 years is just a trailer, we have to do a lot of work," he said.
The prime minister said he will work constantly for the country.
"Modi is born for 'mehnat' (hard work), not 'mauj' (enjoyment)."
Aligarh will vote on April 26 in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
UP has 80 parliamentary constituencies, the highest number among all states.
