New Delhi, Oct 11: The past year has proved challenging for the India's ''wealth creators'' as Forbes' 2019 list of business tycoons saw their total wealth dropping by 8 per cent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day speech, had said that that the country''s wealth creators help in reducing poverty and deserve respect and encouragement.

"In all, 14 were poorer by $1 billion or more, and nine members from last year's ranks dropped off. More than a third of that decline was due to the remarkable largesse of tech tycoon Azim Premji, who gave away a chunk of his fortune in March and consequently dropped in the ranks to No 17 from No 2," Forbes said.

The Forbes India Rich List 2019 showed industrialist Gautam Adani jumped 8 spots on the list to become the second richest India with net worth of $15.7 billion while Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani maintained his numero uno spot with $51.4 billion.

Ashok Leyland owners Hinduja brothers stood third with a net worth of $15.6 billion, Shapoorji Pallonji Group''s Pallonji Mistry occupied the fourth spot with a $15 billion net worth, Kotak Mahindra Bank's Uday Kotak was ranked fifth with $14.8 billion net worth followed by HCL Technologies'' Shiv Nadar with a net worth of $14.4 billion.

"Mukesh Ambani remains the richest Indian for the 12th year in a row. He added $4.1 billion to his net worth as Jio, a three-year-old telecom unit of his Reliance Industries, became one of India''s biggest mobile carriers with 340 million subscribers," Forbes said.

The list saw six new debutants including Byju's Founder and CEO, Byju Raveendran at no 72 with net wealth of $1.91 billion, Manohar Lal and Madhusudan Agarwal of Haldiram Snacks at no 86 with net worth of $1.7 billion, Rajesh Mehra of Jaquar, at no 95 with $1.5 billion net worth and Sandeep Engineer of Astral Poly Technik with $1.45 billion net worth.

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New Delhi: An animated video post shared on BJP’s official Instagram handle, asserting that the Congress party would snatch wealth from non-Muslims to ‘distribute it to its favorite community of invaders,’ has sparked significant backlash. Following the uproar, the photo sharing platform has taken down the post, reports Newslaundry.com. 

Meanwhile, it is uncertain whether the post was removed by the BJP or by Instagram following mass reporting by several users as “misinformation” and “hate speech”. The video depicted Rahul Gandhi holding the Congress manifesto which transforms into the logo of the Muslim league. Furthermore, it sought support for PM Modi from every ‘Bharatiya,’ who is also shown wearing a saffron turban.

According to the report, it also contained a clip of PM Modi alleging that the former PM Manmohan Singh had said, “Muslims have the first claim on our resources,” insinuating that if the Congress were to assume power, it would confiscate the money and assets of non-Muslims, redistributing them to Muslims, whom it favored. Labeling Muslims as ‘infiltrators’, the video depicted historical invaders as looters who plundered India's resources and suggested that the Congress party continues to empower individuals from the same community.

The video then communicated that the Congress party’s manifesto is “nothing but Muslim league’s ideology in disguise. If you are a non-Muslim, Congress will snatch your wealth and distribute it to Muslims.” It also slinged the BJP’s official slogan ‘abki baar, 400 paar,’ and called that it was the need of the hour, since Modi only has the “strength to stop the Congress party’s evil plans.”

Similar claims have also been made by several BJP leaders. Recently, Union Minister Anurag Thakur stated that the Congress intends to “Give your children's property to Muslims.”