Congress Slams Modi Govt’s GST as ‘Looting the Public to Benefit Industrialists’

New Delhi, January9, 2025: The Congress party on Thursday accused the Narendra Modi government of favoring industrialists by exploiting the people of the country through the “fear” of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

In a press briefing, Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil described the GST as a “fear” for the common man, claiming that it was meant to streamline the tax system but has instead become more convoluted due to the government’s hasty implementation, causing suffering to the people through its complex tax slabs.

Gohil remarked, “During the UPA tenure, Dr. Manmohan Singh had said that GST would be introduced to relieve the people, not exploit them. It was supposed to simplify the tax structure, but the BJP government has done the opposite.”

He added, “What is happening today is not the progress of the country but the progress of a few ‘select friends’ of Modi ji. They talk about Ram Rajya, but they are implementing the Lanka model.” The Congress leader alleged that the BJP government is burdening the common man with taxes, but not on income, rather on their spending. He pointed out that 2/3rds of GST collections come from ordinary people, while only three percent of GST is contributed by 10 percent of billionaires and the “friends of Modi.”

“In the past decade, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened. In 2019, the Modi government reduced corporate taxes by Rs 2 lakh crore, benefiting his close allies. But when we talk about empowering Delhi’s women by offering Rs 2,500, they accuse us of doling out freebies,” Gohil said. He also criticized the GST system for deceiving farmers, noting that 28 percent GST is levied on chemicals used by farmers to protect their crops from pests.

The Congress organized 12 press conferences across major cities today to highlight what they call the “fear of GST.” The conferences were addressed by leaders like Gourav Gogoi in Jorhat, Praveen Chakravarty in Vijayawada, Shaktisinh Gohil in Delhi, Mohan Kumarmangalam in Ahmedabad, Jaynarayan Vyas in Surat, Ajoy Kumar in Chandigarh, M Rajeev Gowda in Trivandrum, Sachin Pilot in Mumbai, TS Singh Deo in Bhopal, Pawan Khera in Jaipur, Supriya Shrinate in Lucknow, and MM Pallam Raju in Kolkata.