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| Will BJP abolish tax on Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrimage? | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 22: The newly-nominated president of J&K BJP Sat Sharma on Monday committed himself to getting the 12.5 per cent Jaziya Tax on Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrimage withdrawn. "This is the main demand of the party. We will take up the issue of withdrawing the tax on pilgrims with the Government again," he said in his first-ever interview to a national daily of repute. This was also his first commitment in the real sense of the term.
The BJP president deserves appreciation for the commitment that he made. The people of Jammu province, nay the Hindus across the country, want this obnoxious tax withdrawn. Even such Congress leaders as Congress national spokesperson Abishek Manu Singhvi had surprised the nation by describing this so-called service tax on chopper service to Mata Vaishno Devi as "jaziya" and demanded its immediate rollback. BJP veteran and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and many other BJP leaders had expressed shock over the imposition of "jaziya" on the Mata Vaishno Devi Pilgrimage and similar other Holy Hindu Pilgrimages, but the PDP-BJP coalition Government refused to budge from its stand and rejected all the pleas, including the request of the Deputy Chief Minister, made in this regard. In fact, Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu rejected outrightly the demand and declared that he will implement the decision in letter and spirit.
It bears recalling that it was on September 2 this year that Finance Department Haseeb Drabu outraged the religious sensitivities of the devotees of Mata Vaishno Devi by issuing a notification that directed Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board to charge "12.5 per cent service tax" on pilgrims using the chopper service. He imposed Jaziya without taking the State Cabinet into confidence. His was a unilateral decision. The Hindus had dismissed the decision as a direct interference in the working of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, an autonomous body that manages the shrine.
Will the BJP president get rid of Jaziya Tax on Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrimage? The answer seems to be a big NO. If the Finance Minister didn't consider the pleas of Union Home Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, he is unlikely to oblige the State BJP president.
However, there is a way that can enable the BJP president fulfill his first commitment. He has to tell the PDP that the BJP shall withdraw support to the Government in case his demand was not conceded. This is the only way. Can he go to that extent? Or will the BJP Ministers in the Mufti Government allow him to take such a stand? But more than that, will Ram Madhav and his ilk in the party allow the new BJP president to administer such a threat to the coalition Government? |
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