New Delhi, Mar 24 (PTI) Senior BJP leader Anuarg Thakur on Monday recalled that Mughal emperors Babur and Aurangzeb had imposed jizya on Hindus, as he accused opposition parties of Muslim appeasement.

Participating in a debate on the Finance Bill, 2025, in the Lok Sabha, the former Union minister said, "People like Rana Sanga and Shivaji are our heroes while the opposition tries to tarnish their image." "Their ideals should have been Rana Sanga, Shivaji and Maharana Pratap but they are busy remembering Babur and Aurangzeb, who imposed taxes on Hindus," he said.

Jizya was a yearly tax historically imposed on non-Muslim subjects by Muslim rulers.

Thakur also wondered how low the opposition would stoop for votebank politics.

The Congress should refrain from appeasement politics, he said. "You have proposed reservation for Muslims only for appeasement." "You (opposition) want to convert India into Jinnah's nation … We will never let you do that," the former Union minister added.

Without taking any name, Thakur also claimed that the Public Accounts Committee chairman was unable to understand the difference between revenue forgone and written off.

This is deeply concerning and raises question marks over the opposition, he added.

Talking about the economic measures taken by the Narendra Modi government, Thakur said individuals earning up to Rs 12 lakh per annum would not have to pay any Income Tax against the 93.5 per cent that had been imposed by the Indira Gandhi government.

Under the PM Kisan Yojana, Rs 3.60 lakh crore has been disbursed to farmers and the performance-linked incentive scheme has helped in exports of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, he said.

The government proposes to raise the FDI limit in the insurance sector to 100 per cent from the current 74 per cent, he added. PTI DP DP SZM SZM

Finance Bill debate highlights alleged religious appeasement and defends tax threshold, welfare transfers, and liberalised insurance FDI. Debate on the Finance Bill, 2025 centred on allegations of religious appeasement tied to proposed reservations and references to jizya, with criticism of opposition fiscal stewardship and parliamentary oversight. The speaker defended government fiscal policy by citing a higher personal income tax exemption threshold, major disbursements under an agricultural support scheme, performance linked export incentives, and a proposed increase in the foreign direct investment limit in the insurance sector to full ownership.