The Congress on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of taking “sole ownership” of the amendments made to the GST regime and said the current reforms were inadequate, with no resolution to the states’ demand for an extension of compensation for another five years.The opposition party slammed the reforms as “applying band-aid after inflicting deep wounds” and said the government should apologise to the public for its GST on essential items.
In his address to the nation, Modi said a ‘GST bachat utsav’ will begin from the first day of Navratri, and coupled with the income tax exemption, it will be a “double bonanza” for most people.
Reacting to Modi’s address, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge took a swipe at the PM with a Hindi proverb, ‘nau sau choohe khakar, billi haj ko chali’.
“Narendra Modi ji, instead of the simple and efficient GST of the Congress party, your government imposed the ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ by collecting 9 different slabs and collected over ₹55 lakh crore in eight years. Now you are talking about a ₹2.5 lakh crore ‘savings festival’ and applying a simple band-aid after inflicting deep wounds on the public!” Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.
“The public will never forget that you collected GST on their pulses, rice, grains, pencils, books, medical treatment, farmers’ tractors – everything. Your government should apologise to the public!” he said.
Congress general secretary, in-charge, communications, Jairam Ramesh, said Modi addressed the nation to “claim sole ownership of the amendments made to the GST regime by the GST Council, a constitutional body.”
“The Indian National Congress has long argued that the Goods and Services Tax has been a “Growth Suppressing Tax”, Ramesh said.
“It is plagued with a high number of tax brackets, punitive tax rates for items of mass consumption, large-scale evasion and misclassification, costly compliance burdens, and an inverted duty structure (lower tax on output as compared to inputs),” Ramesh said in a post on X.