Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh on Monday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that when Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he opposed the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
“From 2006 to 2014, only one Chief Minister opposed GST for eight years and he became Prime Minister in 2014 and emerged as the messiah of GST taking a U-turn in 2017,” Ramesh told ANI, in-charge of Congress’s communication affairs, Ramesh told ANI.
He further stated that recently announced GST reforms are limited, as they do not provide ease of removing process complications of MSME sector.
Ramesh said, “The recent reforms in GST are limited. The need to make the process of procedural complications of the MSME sector is not fulfilled. The Prime Minister has not said anything on the demand for a five -year compensation package by the state governments. There is a need to pay attention to many issues.”
Intensifying his attack against the Narendra Modi government at the Center, Ramesh argued that the Congress has been “demanding” repeated “repeated” to improve GST, which the government ignored until US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs.
The Congress MP said, “The GST was first implemented in July 2017. Then Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party called it Gabbar Singh Tax. It is neither good nor simple. We knew that it would be another setback for our economy after demonetisation. They did not believe in us for eight years and did not make any changes despite our repeated demands of reforms.”
Ramesh said that the proposal to implement GST was first introduced by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram in 2006 and was introduced as a bill in 2010.
He said, “When Trump imposed tariffs, the government was forced to improve the tax structure and now they are celebrating it as a celebration. They have been late for eight years. The proposal to implement GST was first proposed in the 2006 budget speech by the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram. In 2010 it was introduced as a bill in Parliament.”
He further said, “It remained with the Standing Committee for two and a half years, whose then BJP leader Yashwant Sinha was the president. When its report was presented, the elections were announced at the same time.”
However, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday that the improvement in GST will be applicable in the whole country from today and this will contribute to the savings of common people.
Describing the deductions as “historic”, Shah said that GST rate cuts have been applied to more than 390 products.
The Union Home Minister posted on 4, “On the auspicious occasion of Navratri, all the mothers and sisters of the country’s Next Jane GST Reform gift of GST Reform! Modi’s promise has been implemented in the whole country with the promise of countrymen regarding GST reforms. In this GST, more than 390 items have been made historic in tax.”
Yesterday, Prime Minister Modi announced the implementation of the next generation GST reforms. It starts today (22 September), which he described as a big step towards the self -sufficient Bharat Abhiyan.
Addressing the nation, Prime Minister Modi said that these reforms will start the nationwide “GST savings festival”, which will benefit the poor, middle class, farmers, traders and entrepreneurs.
He said, “Since sunrise on the first day of Navratri, the nation has been taking another important and big step towards the self -sufficient Bharat Abhiyan. Yesterday, on 22 September, on the first day of Navratri, with the rise of Suryadev, the GST improvement of the next generation will come into force.”
The Prime Minister said that the poor, middle class, farmers, women, traders and entrepreneurs of the country will all be “benefited” by increasing savings and easy purchases.