Nitish Kumar’s punishing attitude towards Hindus has entered into a new fold. Bihar government has now resorted to insulting the dead. The administration is now down to imposing a ‘jizya’ tax on people doing ‘Pind-Daan’ in the Gaya district.
Bihar Government imposes tax on Pilgrims
Municipal Corporation of Gaya is now collecting 10 rupees from anyone visiting Gaya for offering tributes to their loved ones. Municipal Corporation is said to have finalised the full tender procedure for taxation purposes.
According to a report by Hindi daily Hindustan, the urban local body has hired contractors to maintain the cleanliness of the holy site. The contractor will be handling the responsibility of cleaning the Sitakund and Akshayvat. The contractor is charging Rs five lakh and fifty thousand from Municipal Corporation.
Moreover, until that contractor is not paid that hefty sum, he/she will not be taking that responsibility. Municipal Corporation however decided to transfer their responsibilities to common people. They imposed a tax of Rs 10 on pilgrims coming for Pind-Daan purposes.
Voices of dissent emerge
Meanwhile, it seems that the Municipal Corporation had not consulted the concerned parties before imposing this ‘tax’. Shambhu Lal Vitthal, the president of the Vishnupad Management committee has expressed his reservations against the order. He said that the whole Gayapal society is categorically and unequivocally standing against this decision. He further asked Municipal Corporation and district administration to rethink the issue.
Mayor defends state government’s decision
Mayor Virendra Kumar was however defensive of tax. He said that it was the government’s decision to levy fees from Pilgrims. According to him, this decision was taken to improve the management of the site. Kumar also informed that only Rs 5 is supposed to be charged by the public. He promised to act on those collecting double the amount from the public.
Second Jizya tax in two months
Within one month, this is the second such tax imposed on Hindus. Recently, the government issued notices to collect taxes from Mandirs. According to a diktat by the Bihar State Board of Religious Trust (BSBRT), taxes will be collected from Mandirs that have been built by private individuals on private land.
The notice issued by BSBRT demanded registration of privately built Mandirs being used by the public. After their registration, these Mandirs will be subject to a four percent of Income-tax.
Read more: Nitish’s Jizya: Hindu temples in Bihar will pay an extra 4% tax
These kinds of taxes have been key features of Muslims ruling Hindus. In India, Mughals are especially infamous for massacring Hindus for not accepting Islam. Any Hindu willing to stay alive was supposed to pay a Jizya to tyrannical Mughals.
Nitish Kumar’s Muslim appeasement politics
Nitish Kumar had worked meticulously for 15 years to make a dent in the Yadav-Muslim (also known as M-Y equation) vote bank of Lalu Yadav. However, when we measure the full impact of his Muslim appeasement politics; Nitish Kumar’s politics has taken a heavy toll on the people of the state.
At the end of November(2021), the Bihar government announced that ownership of the land of temples and monasteries registered or affiliated with the Bihar State Religious Trust Board will lie with the deities of the shrines and that 30,000 acres of such temple and land will be declared public property.
Similarly, the veteran chief minister had refused to rename Bakhtiyarpur Junction. In fact, BJP had proposed to rename it after Nitish Kumar himself, replacing tyrannical Bakhtiyar Khilji’s name.
Read more: Nitish’s Muslim appeasement emerges as the biggest hurdle in renaming Bakhtiyarpur station
Our Constitution provides that states will not be interfering with the day-to-day functioning of any religion unless some exceptional circumstances emerge. The imposition of tax by Nitish Kumar’s government is in stark contradiction to the constitutional principle of division between state and religion.