The Congress termed the Centre’s plan to bring the GST rate for 99 per cent of the goods below 18 per cent as a belated wisdom. The party said it has been demanding for long that the new structure should have started with 18 per cent as the standard rate.

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the governance mantra of BJP is “leap before you look” and it is the reason for the damage caused by the GST to businesses, especially MSMEs. “Having scrambled the egg needlessly when GST was introduced, the government is trying to unscramble it! Typical of NDA,” he tweeted.

Talking to reporters at Parliament, party MP and spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had termed Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s demand for a GST rate of 18 per cent or less as ‘grand stupid thought’. “Hundred days are left for the Lok Sabha elections, and Modi has suddenly woken up to the fact that the GST implemented by his government is poorly implemented,” Singhvi said.

‘One Nation Seven Taxes’

The Congress, which has been maintaining that Modi’s GST is ‘One Nation Seven Taxes’, said Rahul Gandhi has been at the forefront of demanding a single tax rate for the GST — not exceeding 18%. “Congress leaders had been demanding the same since 2015, but Modi government did not listen to the people,” he said.

Singhvi said the GST council has rationalised the rates four times recently. “We want to ask (Finance Minister) Arun Jaitley, what has changed in the past five months, that now the Modi government is forced to adopt the ‘flawed idea’ of single tax rate? Was it the absolute drubbing they received from the electorate in the five States or was something else?” he asked.

Citing a survey by All India Manufacturers’ Organisation (AIMO) Singhvi said the country witnessed a steady job loss and declining profits since 2014, and demonetisation and the roll-out of GST are among the reasons for the slowdown. “This is Modi’s legacy of economic mismanagement and jumlas,” he added.

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