‘First time since Aurangzeb…’: AAP’s Atishi accuses BJP of forcing taxes on temples

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party MLA Atishi on Tuesday (December 7) launched a scathing attack on the BJP-ruled MCD, accusing them of forcing taxes on temples in Delhi. She said that it was for the first time since Mughal King Aurangzeb’s rule that taxes were being sought from the temples.

She alleged that East MCD has sent notices to several temples seeking house tax failing which they would be sealed.

“The East MCD has sent notices to several temples saying that you must pay house tax otherwise this temple will be sealed. In my opinion, this is the first time since the rule of Aurangzeb that somebody has dared to send such a notice to a temple. In 1679, Aurangzeb had imposed Jizya on temples. Today, in 2021, the East MCD has imposed property tax on temples. This is the real face of the Bharatiya Janata Party. They were extorting from whoever they could in the state but now they want to get a piece of the priest's dakshina as well? What kind of a government asks temples to pay property taxes?” said Atishi.

“Till now they were preying on the money of the common man but now it seems like their hunger has not been satisfied. They are after the temples of Delhi now. For the first time in the history of Delhi, temples are being forced to pay House Tax,” she added.

The MLA questioned the BJP if their “tactic of asking for votes in the name of Lord Shri Ram is just a gimmick and a method of cheating the people of Delhi”.

AAP's East MCD LoP Manoj Tyagi alleged, “Be it in Geeta Colony, Shahdara, Yamuna Vihar, Karawal Nagar, Khajuri Khas or any other area, all temples, Gurdwaras and mosques  have been served notices.”

Atishi also said that the MCD has been constantly failing to pay the salaries of its teachers, workers, doctors and sanitation staffers.

She further praised the Arvind Kejriwal-led government saying it collects “taxes with full integrity and spends it on the welfare of the people of the state”.

“It is the Kejriwal government that has been able to double the budget of Delhi in just 5 years. The CM resolved to send the elderly of the state on pilgrimage, to help them get darshan of Ram Lalla,” she said.