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| Congress turns 'rightist', BJP in state of dilemma | | Jizya tax on Vaishno Devi pilgrims | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Sept 8: The Congress, it seems, has started realizing that one of the fundamental factors that resulted in its massive defeat in the last Lok Sabha election was its "policy of appeasement" or an impression that the Congress was anti-majority community. Even the former Defence Minister AK Antony, who was charged with the responsibility by AICC President Sonia Gandhi to find what brought down the strength of the Congress in the Lok Sabha from 206 in 2009 to 44 seats in 2014, had acknowledged in his report that since the Congress was considered anti-Hindu party, the majority community voted for the BJP which had created an impression through its no-holds-barred propaganda blitz that it was the champion of the majority community and it was the parties like the Congress which had consistently polarized the nation and humiliated the majority community for vote-bank politics.
That the defeated Congress has realized its mistake or that the Congress wants to win over the majority community became somewhat clear on Monday, when its national spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi described the imposition by Jammu & Kashmir Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu's decision to impose 12.5 per cent tax on teli-tickets as Jizya tax. Flaying the decision of the state government in Jammu & Kashmir to levy service tax on pilgrims availing of chopper service to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine, Singhvi questioned whether it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's version of Jizya tax. "Is this Modi's definition of Jizya tax on pilgrims to Vaishno Devi? Is it BJP-PDP's version of Jizya tax to pilgrims of Vaishno Devi?" Abhishek Singhvi told reporters in New Delhi while tearing into the state government. Singhvi also accused the government of "trying to control" the pilgrimage and said, "you (PM Modi) have hurt the faith of people". Jizya tax was imposed on Hindus during the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangazeb.
Singhvi didn't stop just there. He further said: "On one hand, people of Jammu & Kashmir have to suffer due to the callous indifference of Modi government towards the relief and rehabilitation. On the other hand, the PDP-BJP government, in a bizarre move, has decided to impose 12.5 per cent service tax on pilgrims making the air-trip to Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine costly by issuing a notification to this effect on September 2". He also didn't buy the argument that an additional service tax was imposed to reduce the number of pilgrims to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. He said that "obnoxious reason" given behind the decision to levy service tax was the desire of PDP-BJP government to reduce the number of pilgrims visiting the cave shrine" and added that the number of pilgrims visiting Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine has already come down from 93 lakh in 2013 to 78 lakh in 2014 on account of "such bizarre and obnoxious policy" of the state government. He further added: "Drunk with power, PDP-BJP government does not realize that ordinary families book helicopter tickets for their aged parents, physically challenged and children largely as also those having medical problems, who cannot undertake the 26 kilometre trek but are keen to do 'darshan'".
It bears recalling that the Finance Minister, Drabu, levied 12.5 per cent service tax on September 2 on Vaishno Devi pilgrims traveling from Katra to the holy cave shrine nestled in Trikuta Hills by chopper. Due to this, pilgrims will have to shell out Rs 2,340 in place of Rs 2,078 for the two-way journey. The decision was implemented on September 3.
The attack launched by the Congress, obviously at the behest of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the PDP-BJP coalition government was sharpest by any standard and it also indicated a change in the Congress' religious policy. The Congress took a stand that must have rattled the Kashmir-based Congress leaders who have always followed anti-minority community policies in Jammu & Kashmir. There is hardly any fundamental difference between the Kashmir-based Congress leadership and other Kashmiri parties.
The stand taken by the Congress has, on the one hand, unnerved the Congress leadership in the Valley, and on the other, put the BJP on the mat. The cornered BJP might say that Haseeb Drabu didn't take the BJP into confidence or he took the decision unilaterally ignoring the BJP, but no one in the state and elsewhere in the country would buy its argument. The reason is that the number two in the state government is senior BJP leader Nirmal Singh. Undoubtedly, the Congress, which seems to have turned "rightist" to identify itself with the Hindu sentiments, created an awkward situation for the BJP. What has added to the BJP's problems all the more is the stand taken by Khalid Jehangir, Srinagar-based BJP spokesperson. Talking to a news channel on Monday, he said: "It is not a big issue. It would be resolved. Such things do happen in coalition governments". He took the stand which was not consistent with the stand the state BJP chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi took on Sunday. He had described the decision as "bad", demanded its rollback and told the PDP that such unilateral decisions could create troubles for the coalition government. That the Deputy Chief Minister didn't raise the issue during the Cabinet meeting, held on September 7 at Srinagar, has further strengthened the critics of the BJP and created an impression that the PDP kept the BJP in the loop before taking decision on service tax on heli-tickets.
In any case, what Singhvi said was highly appreciable. It is hoped that the Congress would continue to oppose the BJP's policies which hurt the sentiments of the majority community and hurt its religious sensitivities. The state government needs to assuage the hurt feelings of the Hindus across the world. It must withdraw the notification that imposed service tax on heli-tickets. |
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