Prime Minister Narendra Modi was caught out on facts for a third time this week with the Congress citing documents to contest his allegation that then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had abolished the inheritance tax to "save his property" after his mother Indira Gandhi's death.

The Congress on Thursday pulled out the 1985 budget speech by then finance minister V.P. Singh to show the abolition of the inheritance tax was effective for deaths after March 16, 1985 — over four months after Indira Gandhi's assassination, making Rajiv ineligible for its benefits.

Modi had aired his allegation earlier in the day while addressing an election rally in Morena, Madhya Pradesh.

The Congress put out screenshots of the part of the 1985 budget speech in which the decision to abolish the "estate duty" (a term often used interchangeably with "inheritance tax") was announced.

Stating that the cost of the administration of estate duty was relatively high, Singh in his budget speech said: "I, therefore, propose to abolish the levy of estate duty in respect of estates passing on deaths occurring on or after 16th March 1985."

Indira was assassinated on October 31, 1984.

The controversy had started after Modi claimed on Wednesday that the Congress planned to introduce an inheritance tax, and the Congress denied this while highlighting that Rajiv had abolished such a provision in 1985.

Following this, Modi sought to make the abolition of the estate duty look beneficial to Rajiv.

Earlier, on Sunday, Modi had claimed that the Congress manifesto had pledged to confiscate people’s assets and redistribute them among Muslims. The Congress manifesto contains no such suggestion, and the party has challenged the Prime Minister to prove it does.

“Once again, his lies stand unraveled,” Congress media-in-charge Jairam Ramesh posted on X, sharing a screenshot of Singh’s 1985 budget speech.

“Incidentally, Indira Gandhi gave away her ancestral property in Allahabad way back in 1970 to the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund.”

Ramesh added: “Every time he opens his mouth to speak, the Prime Minister provides fresh evidence of his meanness, pettiness, and his steadfast adherence to lies.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has written to the Prime Minister seeking an appointment to explain the party manifesto to him in person “so that he doesn’t make any false statements in future”.

Congress office-bearers claim that Modi’s remarks on the party manifesto are drawing attention to the document and that the party is making extra effort to explain it to the people.

In Morena, Modi said the Gandhi family had kept “chaar-chaar pidhiyon ke akut dhan daulat (huge assets of four generations)” for itself but the Congress was planning to bring in a “more severe” inheritance law to “loot” half the hard-earned money of ordinary citizens.

He repeated the allegation in Agra.

Modi had levelled the accusation for the first time on Wednesday, seizing on a comment by the head of the Congress overseas wing, Sam Pitroda.

In an interview with news agency ANI, Pitroda had said that America’s “55 per cent” inheritance tax was an interesting law, worthy of discussion and debate in India.

The Congress had promptly clarified that it had “no plan whatsoever” to impose an inheritance law and termed Pitroda’s comment his personal opinion. It also referred to Rajiv’s abolition of the estate duty in 1985.

Despite this, Modi made the same allegation on Thursday and suggested the 1985 abolition was made for Rajiv’s personal benefit.

“When the country’s (then) PM, Behen Indira, passed away, her property was supposed to be inherited by her son. But there was a law then that a portion of the (inherited) property would go to the government. It was the Congress that had made the law,” Modi told the Morena rally.

“There was widespread discussion at that time (on how to prevent a portion of the property going to the government).... To save the property and to save the money inherited from Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi abolished the inheritance law.”

He added: “When it hit them, they abolished the law. Now, when their issue has been settled, they in their lust for power want to bring the law back with more severe provisions.... They want to tax the money you have earned and kept for your children and loot half of it.”