Should India take from the rich, give the poor? A new election flashpoint | India Election 2024 [Video]

New Delhi, India — As the world’s largest — and one of its most unequal — democracies votes in a mammoth national election, a new debate has gripped the campaigns of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress party.

At the heart of this latest political slugfest is the idea of a potential redistribution of wealth. But while the Congress party has alluded to the need for some resources to be reallocated to traditional marginalised economic and caste-based communities, Modi and the BJP have accused the opposition of plotting to hand over wealth from Hindu households to Muslims.

So what’s the controversy about and what do economists say about the proposals for a relook at India’s wealth distribution?

In April, Rahul Gandhi, a scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, said if voted to office, his Congress party would conduct a caste census along with an economic and …