Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Msh Sisodia on Tuesday slammed the Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut for her remarks that only a few people pay tax in India while rest are dependent on them.
Explaining that even a daily wage earner has to pay indirect taxes, if not direct, Sisodia said, "A lot of people have a general perception that only they are paying taxes. I believe that even a beggar in the country is a taxpayer. When he buys salt from a shop he pays tax. Similarly, a rickshaw puller, labour, lawyers, and journalists everyone pay the tax. So nobody should think that only they are paying, every child in the country pays tax."
The Deputy Chief Minister was here to launch the Akshaya Patra kitchen scheme here which will be coordinated by the Akshaya Patra foundation and provide mid-day meal in Delhi schools.
"Around 56,000 children will get the profit of these kitchens which will be run by Akshaya Patra Foundation. Delhi government will start three kitchens with them for now which will provide nutritious food to the children," he said.
Slamming people for vandalising public property during protests, Ranaut had said, "In our population, only three to four per cent people pay taxes. Rest of them are actually dependent on them. So, who gives you the right to burn buses, trains, create ruckus in the country."
"One bus costs a lot. It's not a small amount. And the condition of this country is such that there are so many, who are dying of malnutrition," she added.
Protests have erupted after the Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Act, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghstan, and Bangladesh and who entered India on or before 31, 2014.
( With inputs from ANI )