Temples should donate 90%: Subhash Ghai echoes Congress' 'gold appropriation' demand

Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday suggested the Centre can "appropriate" gold stock of religious trusts in the country, which he said would help generate at least Rs 76 lakh crore to tide over the COVID-19 crisis. Echoing the thoughts, filmmaker Subhash Ghai took to his Twitter handle and wrote that all rich temples should donate 90% of its gold.

In his tweet, Ghai mentioned that this move would serve poor people under stress. Read his full tweet below —

Congress' Prithviraj Chavan tells govt to borrow '$1 Trillion' gold from religious trusts

Prithviraj Chavan in his tweet wrote, "Govt. must immediately appropriate all the gold lying with all the Religious Trusts in the country, worth at least $1 trillion, according to the #WorldGoldCouncil. The gold can be borrowed through gold bonds at a low-interest rate. This is an emergency".

Later on Wednesday, former BJP Lok Sabha MP Kirit Somaiya on Thursday lashed out at former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan for asking the Centre to appropriate all the gold lying with all religious trusts in India. He questioned whether Congress president Sonia Gandhi had asked Chavan to put forth this demand. Thereafter, he asked the Congress party to clarify whether it backed Chavan's point of view. According to Chavan, the gold worth $1 trillion could be borrowed at a low-interest rate and utilised in the ongoing "emergency" COVID-19 situation. 

Kirit Somaiya remarked, "Prithviraj Chavan has demanded that the government should appropriate the gold lying in temples. I want clarification from Prithviraj Chavan that has Sonia Gandhi asked you to make this demand? Is this the stance of Congress? Is this the demand of the Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states?"