Against Congress' "My Tax My Right”, BJP MLA Harish Poonja Says, "Tax Of Hindus, Right Of Hindus" (image: instagram.com/hpoonja)
In response to a Congress-led Karnataka government protest on Wednesday and social campaign with the the hashtag “My Tax My Right”, BJP MLA Harish Poonja countered it with a strange claim: “Tax of Hindus, Right of Hindus”.
Taking to social media platform X, Belthangady MLA wrote: “The tax money paid by Hindus from this financial year should be used only for the development of Hindus. It is an injustice to Hindus that tax money paid by Hindus goes to people of other religions. Tax of Hindus, Right of Hindus.”
ಈ ಆರ್ಥಿಕ ವರ್ಷದಿಂದ ಹಿಂದುಗಳು ಕಟ್ಟಿರುವ ತೆರಿಗೆ ಹಣ ಹಿಂದೂಗಳ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಉಪಯೋಗ ಆಗಬೇಕು.
ಹಿಂದುಗಳು ಕಟ್ಟಿದ ತೆರಿಗೆ ಹಣ ಬೇರೆ ಧರ್ಮಗಳ ಜನರಿಗೆ ಸೇರುವುದು ಹಿಂದುಗಳಿಗೆ ಆಗುವ ಅನ್ಯಾಯ
ಹಿಂದೂಗಳ ತೆರಿಗೆ , ಹಿಂದೂಗಳ ಹಕ್ಕು
— Harish Poonja (@HPoonja) February 7, 2024
The BJP MLA”s move comes in the backdrop of the ‘Chalo Delhi’ protest led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, including the entire Karnataka ministry—the state’s Congress MLAs and MLCs—in Delhi Jantar Mantar against the Central government’s tax devolution policies. The chief minister has written a letter to all Union ministers and MPs, seeking their support for extending the state”s cause. In the full-page advertisements run in the newspaper on Tuesday, the government claimed that the protest was against “the financial atrocities committed by the Central government on Kannadigas and Karnataka.”
While speaking to the reporters, Siddaramaiah said that the protest was non-partisan and asked it to be framed as a fight against injustice and discrimination in tax allocation. He then urged all the stakeholders to keep aside their political differences and be a part of the protest for the betterment of the state.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Kerala and Tamil Nadu joined hands with Karnataka and held protest on similar lines on February 8.
