The UPA could not have made it any more clear just what dire straits it is in, trying to contain BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's soaring popularity.
In what many will see as a vicious political move, the Central Excise department pulled up the main opposition party seeking to know whether they have been paying service tax for Modi's political rallies across the country.
BJP's PM candidate during a political rally. PTI
In a notice dated 12 February, issued to the Chandigarh office of the BJP, the Excise department sought details of how much money was collected through Modi's political rallies across the country, and how much the party has already paid as service tax.
"As the entry tickets to the event were not for any admission to any entertainment event or access to amusement facilities (which are in the negative list) the same is taxable in the hands of person collecting the amount of tickets. It appears that BJP/Shri Narendra Modi has neither got registered under Service Tax nor paid tax on collection from tickets," the notice said, further asking the party to respond within ten days with details of amounts collected and service tax paid.
Ahead of the party's October rally in Bangalore, BJP's political affairs and core committee met and decided to collect Rs 10 as an entry fee. However, the committee reportedly failed to arrive at a consensus on whether the fee should be made compulsory.
After the meeting, state BJP president Prahlad Joshi told reporters that collection of the entry fee would commence from 30 October in all booth centres and that people could also register online via the party's website, according to reports.
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who posted the Excise department notice on his blog, slammed the 'desperate' UPA government for harassing Modi, claiming that the Congress party was 'still at sea' trying 'every method, fair or foul' to counter Modi.
"Obviously there are no tickets to Modi's rallies... the BJP has launched a massive fund collection campaign with an effort to reach 10 crore households for fund collection," the former law minister said.
"The UPA government has now invented a new curious method, which it hopes can tackle him... Considering the mammoth crowds who gather to listen to Narendra Modi all over the country, this can be Finance Minister's faint hope of augmenting his otherwise depleting revenue," he said.
When asked about the notice, Union Minister Manish Tewari refused to comment on the matter saying it was a legal notice by the government. "This is a legal notice... so only the one who has issued it or the one who has received it can speak about it."
Earlier, in July 2013, the BJP began an online and offline drive to collect Rs 5 for Modi's 11 August political rally in Hyderabad.
"The online registration, being done by collecting Rs 5 from each participant, began about a week ago," Hyderabad BJP unit president G Kishan Reddy had said, seeking to defend the move and adding that the sum would be handed over to victims of the Uttarakhand floods.
Then, in October 2013, the party imposed the 'entry fee' of Rs 10. The Congress party had hit out at the BJP, with Union Minister Manish Tewari mocking the 'listening tax' in a tweet.
"The tax reflects their own appreciation of their market value. They have imposed a listening tax. When will they impose a speaking tax," Tewari had questioned.
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