PM Modi discussed GST reforms and pushed for ‘Made in India’ products as he announced GST ‘Bacchat Utsav’ on September 22. The opposition reacted sharply to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on Sunday, saying that he skirted talking about major issues in his speech.
In his 19-minute speech, PM Modi discussed GST reforms and pushed for ‘Made in India’ products as he announced GST ‘Bacchat Utsav’ on September 22, the day the reformed Goods and Services Tax rates come into force.
“I extend my heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to millions of families across the country for the Next Generation GST reforms and ‘Bachat Utsav’. These reforms will accelerate India’s growth story, simplify business, make investment more attractive, and make every state an equal partner in the race for development,” he said.
“Claiming sole ownership”: Congress
Congress slammed Modi for “claiming the sole ownership” of the GST reforms, with party general secretary Jairam Ramesh calling them “inadequate”.
“The Prime Minister addressed the nation today to claim sole ownership of the amendments made to the GST regime by the GST Council, a constitutional body. The Indian National Congress has long argued that the GST has been a Growth Suppressing Tax. It is plagued with a high number of tax brackets, punitive tax rates for items of mass consumption, large-scale evasion and misclassification, costly compliance burdens, and an inverted duty structure (lower tax on output as compared to inputs),” Ramesh wrote on X.”We have been demanding a GST 2.0 since July 2017 itself. This was a key pledge made in our Nyay Patra for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. The current GST reforms are inadequate,” he added.
It’s worth mentioning, though, that Modi said during his speech that many state governments deserve credit for the GST reforms. “When you gave us the opportunity in 2014, we made GST our priority in the public interest and in the national interest. We discussed with every stakeholder. We addressed every state’s doubts and found solutions to every question. By taking all states on board, India’s largest tax reform became possible. It was the result of the efforts of the central and state governments that the country was freed from the web of dozens of taxes, and a uniform system was established for the entire country. The dream of ‘One Nation, One Tax’ was realised,” Modi said.
Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai called the PM’s silence on the issue of ‘vote theft’ “unfortunate.” “PM Modi should also have spoken something about the way votes are being stolen and governments are being formed. This is very unfortunate,” Rai told the media.
TMC’s Kunal Ghosh credited West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for the GST reforms.
“GST rates were actually anti-people. Mamata Banerjee raised her voice against it. Then the entire nation rose up against it. The central government was forced to change the GST rates. Now they are trying to take credit for this, but why did you introduce such rates in the first place… Mamata Banerjee and AITC pointed out and forced them to bring changes, and so it’s credit goes to Mamata Banerjee,” Kunal Ghosh said.
Mamata Banerjee on Sunday claimed that the Centre was taking undue credit for lowering GST rates, though the move was initiated by the state.
Without naming the Prime Minister, Bannerjee said, “We are losing ₹20,000 crore as revenue, but we are happy about the lowering of GST. But why are you (Modi) claiming credit for it? We had sought a lowered GST. It was our suggestion at the GST Council meeting with the Union Finance Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman.” AAP’s Saurabh Bharadwaj took a jibe at PM Narendra Modi’s address to the nation, saying GST is ‘old news’.
“It seemed like Prime Minister Modi would say something about increasing the fees charged by companies sponsoring H-1B applicants to $100,000 and imposing tariffs by US President Trump, but the GST news is very old. Prime Minister Modi used to address the nation at 8 PM, but today at 5 PM, perhaps because tonight at 8 PM there is the India vs Pakistan match… It seems like India’s foreign policy is quite bad… Now there is an indifference in people’s minds,” he said.
