If the Congress Vice-President could ridicule GST as “Gabbar Singh Tax”, can the Prime Minister be far behind: on Wednesday, Narendra Modi compared Rahul Gandhi’s description of GST with “Grand Stupid Thought”!

Interestingly, Surat Congress, on Tuesday, tried to take out a rally of party workers dressed as a gang of dacoits and other characters of Hindi classic Sholay , complete with horses, to ridicule GST’s new nomenclature given by Rahul Gandhi recently. But the police foiled their attempts. Ever since Gandhi dubbed GST as “Gabbar Singh Tax”, a worried BJP was looking for a response, which it got on Thursday from Modi.

Incidentally, while rolling out GST in Parliament in July, the PM had described GST as “Good and Simple Tax”.

Modi, who returned to Gujarat from Hyderabad on Tuesday, said at a party election rally in Morbi, a hotbed of the Patidar quota agitation, that “they” (the Congress) wanted to lower GST on expensive and luxury items such as liquor and cigarettes. “We would’t allow robbers to take away the poor’s rights. They are levelling baseless allegations against us as we are trying to prevent theft and corruption. There cannot be any bigger anti-poor step.”

Reminding the audience of achievements of the successive BJP governments in Gujarat, Modi stressed that he was a “son of the soil". “For the first time in 70 years, you have your own PM in Delhi.” He said his party was not looking at immediate gains but working for a better future of the people. “We Gujaratis do not invest to lose out. I am sure you’ll vote for Vikas.”

For its contribution, the PM said, Gujarat will always remember the BJP for giving the Narmada waters. “Our party cannot be defeated for a hundred years.”

He also questioned former PM Manmohan Singh’s observation that Modi, as Gujarat CM, never raised the issue of Narmada waters. “Dr Singh has, perhaps, forgotten due to advanced age, or, maybe, he was under pressure from the party to have said so. The then PM agreed when I requested him to at least allow Gujarat to install sluice gates at the Sardar Sarovar dam as the gates were ready. When I raised the issue again two months later, he expressed surprise that it had not been done. Finally, within 70 days of taking over as the PM in 2014, I granted the Centre’s permission to Gujarat.”

He also replied to the Congress questioning the “Gujarat model” of development. “The Congress model was to promise a hand-pump, win an election, sink it the next time, win another election, and finally pump out water, to win a third election. In contrast, the BJP has worked on long-term Narmada water schemes, built lakhs of check-dams to prevent wastage of rain water, and developed lift and drip irrigation.”

Modi also sought to reconnect with the older generation in Morbi when he narrated how he and many RSS-Jana Sangh workers provided relief in 1979 when the Machchhu dam burst tragedy devastated the region and killed many. “His (Rahul’s) grandmother Indiraji (Gandhi) came here and her photographs with clipped nose were carried by the media, while our photos providing relief were carried side-by-side.”

In another public meeting at Prachi, Gir-Somnath district, Modi accused the Congress of killing a bill in the Rajya Sabha for the welfare of OBCs. “But we will see that it is passed soon.” He also charged the Opposition party with a “PhD in falsehood”.

“Only the dishonest and corrupt are scared of the BJP and Modi.”

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