The Congress party on Friday insistently said it’s not us but the RSS that does not want the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill in the parliament. As well as the party also mentioned to give their support to the key legislation, if ruling government agrees to their two “Principal demands”.
Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala expressed to the reporters at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club, “We have been saying that let’s pass GST. But because RSS has red flagged GST, the government will not like to pass GST and they will only blame us.”
As per him, the party wants only two amendments to the GST bill and if these two demands been accepted by the Narendra Modi government, the Congress is ready to support the bill.
“What is Congress party saying on GST. Let us put an outer cap of 18 percent on it. Already there is 15 percent service tax in India, 35 to 40 percent income tax, and you (government) want to impose GST. By all means please do, but please put an outer constitutional cap,” he said explaining that the ‘proposed cap’ will reduce the reckless multiplicity of taxes.
“Can we impose the kind of tax on the people of this country that will break their back and drive them to a situation where it will lead to social unrest? The answer is no, and that is our responsibility,” Surjewala added to show his support to the Indian people.
Surjewala further said to appoint a third party by the Modi government, as a mediator on the GST issues, as its second demand.
“In another demand, Congress party says let there be a third party arbitrator to decide on disputes relating to GST but Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, (Finance Minister) Mr. Jaitley and their government wants the GST council to settle the disputes,” he said, adding that there should be a neutral judge in case of a dispute between two parties.
Surjewala expressed its thoughts that government will not accept these “legitimate demands as RSS does not want it to pass the bill”. He said that small scale and medium traders which make up the majority of the RSS support base believe they will get adversely affected by passage of the GST bill.
He also called Modi government “non-serious” in propelling the country on a growth path
“Growth comes on account of sincerity and functioning of the government; its policies and their implementation on the ground. Congress party is contributing to key pieces of legislation which the BJP opposed when they were out of power,” Surjewala said asserting that the Congress has helped in the passage of “hundreds of key legislation” as a “constructive opposition”.
The Congress’s that kind of behavior and reporting to the media growing the speculation that the ruling government will try its best for the passage of the key GST bill in the ongoing parliament session.
