New Delhi: Slamming Congress on the 'inheritance tax' issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that it was former PM Rajiv Gandhi who abolished the inheritance law "to save their own interests" after the death of his mother Indira Gandhi.

PM was addressing a series of election rallies in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. He said that he wanted to share an "interesting fact" with the country.

"When Mrs. Indira Gandhi died, her property was ought to go to her children. Had the previous law been in place, the government would have taken a part of that property. At that time, there was a talk that to save the property, her son and then Prime Minister (Rajiv Gandhi) simply abolished the inheritance law. When it came to their own gains, they abolished the law," said Prime Minister Modi.

"Today, motivated by the greed for power once again, these people want to bring back the same law. After collecting unlimited wealth for generations without taxes on their families, now they want to impose taxes on your inheritance. That's why the country is saying 'Congress ki loot, zindagi ke saath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi'," he added.

PM Modi, later in the day, addressed rallies in UP's Agra and Aonla where he again said that Congress will set a "dangerous precedent" by bringing an inheritance tax.

"The Congress-SP and INDI Alliance plans to force a 55 per cent tax on your inheritance. This means they'll take a significant portion of what you leave for your children. If you build a four-room house, only two rooms will go to your children, and the rest shall be seized by Congress-SP."

"Similarly, if you own 10 bighas of land, only five bighas will be inherited by your children, the rest will be taken by Congress-SP. Are you ready to surrender your property to them," he asked.

Accusing the Congress of hatching a "deep conspiracy", PM Modi said, "one of the Congress leaders is talking about conducting an X-ray of people's assets across the country. Whatever you earn, the Mangalsutra, gold, and silver that our mothers and sisters have, Congress wants to seize them and distribute them among their vote bank supporters."

"Even the wealth left after you leave this world won't go to your sons and daughters. Congress wants to snatch more than half of your earnings. For this, Congress wants to impose an inheritance tax on you," he added on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress, Sam Pitroda - who had earlier worked with Rajiv Gandhi and is now considered close to Rahul Gandhi - triggered a massive controversy with his statements on inheritance tax in America.

Pressing that it was former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who had abolished the inheritance tax in 1985, Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that there is "no mention" of it in the party's 2024 manifesto.

"I want to clarify one thing. There is no mention of Inheritance Tax in our manifesto, it is not our agenda. The truth is, in 1985, PM Rajiv Gandhi abolished the Inheritance Tax. We never mentioned anything about Inheritance Tax and it is not part of our agenda," Jairam Ramesh said on Wednesday. (With inputs from agencies)