Murshidabad, 22 September (). In Murshidabad, West Bengal, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary launched a scathing attack on the central government over GST.
He said that the basic spirit of GST was of the Congress party and its government, which was aimed at implementing a uniform tax system across the country.
He further said that the Congress aims to limit GST to one or two slabs, so that ordinary citizens are ease in business and tax evasion would be curbed.
He accused the BJP of ‘borrowing’ this policy of the Congress and said that the BJP implemented GST with great publicity, but turned it into ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’. Complex slabs of GST and high tax rates harassed common people and traders.
He claimed that the Congress had advocated to make GST simple and effective from the beginning, so that neither the businessmen nor the government lose revenue.
Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary also questioned the functioning of the GST Council.
He said that if West Bengal is suffering losses due to GST, as some people are claiming, then why did the state government not oppose it in the GST Council?
He taunted that the government first increases prices and then pretends to reduce it.
Giving the example, he said, “Suppose the price of something was earlier 10 rupees, it was first to 100 rupees and then it is said to be 50 rupees. The result is that 10 rupees thing is being available for 50 rupees.”
Chaudhary said that the objective of the GST policy of the Congress was to promote economic development and make the tax system transparent, but the BJP government made it complicated and burdened the common people and small businessmen.
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AKS/DSC
