New Anti-Hindu-Sikh Tax to be Imposed?

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Return of Jazia?

By Vaidehi Nathan

 

The comrades in Red are reinventing Aurangzeb. In their wisdom, they

are suggesting to the UPA government to collect a cess from temples

in India. Couched in the words `places of worship', they have cited

Vaishno Devi, Tirupati, Golden Temple, Amritsar and such shrines.

 

Of course, this is not the communists' first attempt at dipping a

finger in the pie. In Kerala, the temple management boards have been

in the hands of communists, Congress and even Muslim League when

they were in power.

 

But the suggestion that the temples be taxed amounts to charging tax

on the Hindus. This when Mulayam Singh in UP has exempted all Wakf

property from government scrutiny. The communists have come up with

this proposal in the blue-print they have prepared on tax reforms,

to help the government. It is to be presented to the Finance

Minister via the UPA Coordination Committee before the budget. It

gives out their split vision in anything concerning the ethos, faith

and heritage of the country. There is no difference between them and

the marauder Ghazni, who according to them invaded the Somnath

temple 17 times for loot.

 

Almost all the big temples the commies are eyeing solely depend on

their income to run their day-to-day affair. In Andhra, Tirupati

temple funds are taken for development.

 

In an informal meeting with the Finance Minister, Gurudas Dasgupta

is said to have enticed the former with the calculation that even a

nominal cess would fetch the government a whopping Rs 2,000 to Rs

3,000 crore annually. If indeed what he said is true, then this

money ought to be spent by the temples on renovating other temples

in the country which are in bad shape. Thousands of temples have

been demolished in Kashmir. Why should the government that lets

looters and defaulters go scot free steal the money offered as an

expression of faith for augmenting its income? For long, communists

in Kerala used to say that temples should be taken over for tapioca

cultivation.

 

In the name of land reform and redistribution of land, the

communists have already taken away the land belonging to temples,

mutts and other religious institutions. The government contributes

next to nothing in maintaining the civic amenities and facilities at

famous temple-towns. Almost all the big temples that commies are

eyeing solely depend on their income to run their day-to-day

affairs. In Andhra, Tirupati temple funds are taken for development

expense by the state government.

 

A government that is willing and eager to enhance Haj subsidy and

relax conditions for getting subsidies has no business to charge

cess from one section of the people, only because they happen to be

the majority community.

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