Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that the revised goods and services tax rates are Bharatiya Janata Party’s masterclass on “how to destroy one of the world’s fastest-growing economies”.
Gandhi shared a list of goods and services that became costlier from Monday. He referred to the hiked rates as “Gabbar Singh Tax”.
The Congress pointed out that the government has increased GST on food despite India’s low ranking on the Global Hunger Index.
India ranked 101 out of 116 countries in 2021 Global Hunger Index. The rank fell from 94 in 2020. India was behind Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the hike in GST rates is “an issue of public concern”.
Kharge added that the matter was raised for a debate on the first day of the Monsoon Session on Monday. However, “the Opposition wasn’t allowed to speak”, he said.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day after the Opposition demanded discussions on inflation.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor described the GST rate hike as “breathtakingly irresponsible”.
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal urged the Centre to withdraw the GST rates imposed on packed and labelled food items, PTI reported.
“The entire country is facing a steep price rise and the Centre has increased the cost of food items by imposing GST on them,” he said. “Delhi is the only state in the country that is providing relief to people from price rise by providing them health, education, water, electricity, travel and other basic facilities free of cost.”
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Shehzad Jai Hind asked why members of the Opposition did not object to GST Council which had set the rates. The members of the Opposition are a part of the council.
“This is typical double-speak,” Hind said. “The rates on these products were set by the GST Council, which has representatives from every single state, not just the Centre or the BJP ones. Why complain on social media?”
Hind shared a list of common-use products that became cheaper under the GST revision.
“Congress failed to bring GST and now all it can do is to criticise those who succeeded in implementing it,” he wrote.
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