Is taxing pilgrims for chopper ride to Vaishno Devi Jizya?: Abhishek Singhvi

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Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the PDP-BJP government has now surreptitiously levied a charge on the pilgrims.

“The state government has decided to impose 12.5 per cent service tax on pilgrims for every helicopter trip to the shrine. And the remarkable, ridiculous reason given is that it wants to control the number of pilgrims going to Vaishno Devi… Who takes these trips. This air trip is taken by the infirm, the aged, the ill. Those who have collected their life savings on an issue of faith. I hate to say this… but is this Mr Modi’s definition of a Jizya tax to pilgrims of Vaishno Devi. Is this the BJP and PDP’s contribution to pilgrims of Vaishno Devi… these are not people who are going out of happiness… they would rather walk. They are taking helicopter out of compulsion,” he said.

Jizya is a tax on non-Muslim subjects imposed by Mughal ruler Aurangzeb. The PDP-BJP government has levied 12.5 per cent service tax on Vaishno Devi pilgrims travelling from Katra to the shrine in Trikuta Hills by chopper. Singhvi accused the government of “trying to control” the pilgrimage and “hurting the faith of people”.

He also accused the BJP government of “politics of deceit and accounting jugglery” as he claimed that Centre has so far only released Rs 1,642 crore out of the Rs 44,000 crore it had promised for relief and rehabilitation in the wake of the floods.