The Congress has rejected the government’s latest appeal to reconsider its decision to boycott the midnight launch of GST. Its vice president Rahul Gandhi launched an attack on the government on Twitter, accusing it of rushing through with a reform with great potential “in a half-baked way with a self-promotional spectacle”.
Mr Gandhi, who is on his way back to India after a holiday abroad, also tweeted, unlike demonetisation GST is a reform that the Congress has championed and backed from the beginning, but like demonetisation, GST is being executed by an incompetent and insensitive government without planning foresight and institutional readiness.”
The Congress leader said India deserves a GST rollout that does not put crores of its ordinary citizens, small businesses and traders “through tremendous pain and anxiety”.
GST, the opposition party claims is a Congress reform, first brought when its government was in power. The party has tirelessly pointed out that the ruling BJP had as opposition stalled the reform with then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi raising many objections.
Congress leaders have designated tonight’s big launch organised by the government in Parliament’s Central Hall a “tamasha” (drama). Their serial objections include Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching GST and not President Pranab Mukherjee and also that the midnight session in the central hall of Parliament has only been held thrice before, all three times to celebrate India’s Independence.
