Meet our demands, GST will be passed: Rahul Gandhi

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said that the Goods and Services Bill would be passed in Parliament with the support of the Congress the moment the Modi government accepted his party’s conditions. He also attacked the Central Government’s Make in India initiative and said that the movement should be started at a local level so that small-time traders could also be benefited.

Mr Gandhi was speaking at a gathering at the end of his padyatra from Bandra to Dharavi undertaken to highlight the issue of “high” electricity tariff in the metropolis. He also had an interactive session with students of NMIMS College at Vile Parle on Saturday.

While discussing the issue of GST during his interaction, Mr Gandhi said, “A compromise with the government is possible on GST and it is by sitting across the table, but the government is not willing to do so,” adding, “The day the conditions are accepted, we will pass the GST (in Parliament). It will take just 15 minutes.”

He went on to add that the party didn’t want a GST where there’s no cap on taxes. “We want a limitation on the maximum tax that can be charged.

“Also, dispute resolution must be fair and neutral. I don’t think its wrong of us to say that,” Mr Gandhi said while explaining the conditions put by Congress to back GST.

Asked about roadblocks in implementation of GST bill, he said, “It was Congress which brought in the GST legislation. The BJP then stopped GST in Parliament for seven years.

Jaitley then did not allow it to pass. Narendra Modi, as CM of Gujarat, did not allow GST to pass. Jaitley doesn’t have to tell me GST is good. I know its good,” he said.

During his padyatra, Mr Gandhi took a dig at Central Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take lessons in entrepreneurship from Dharavi for his ‘Make in India’ movement. “Modiji should come to Dharavi to see how ‘Make in Dharavi’ model is working here. The small-scale industries in Dharavi are doing a great job, be it in leather or clothes sectors. If these industries are strengthened, the Make in India movement would be fast tracked and we would be able to unseat China as a leader in manufacturing,” he said.

In his speech, he came down heavily on the central government for failing to control inflation even though oil prices in international market are at an all-time low.

“When the UPA government was in power, the petrol price in international market was $150 a barrel. Now this has come down to as low as $29 per barrel. Despite this, inflation is rising. The prices of pulses have shot up to '230 a kg. The government should have spent the money thus saved on account of low oil prices, on redevelopment of roads, power sector, unemployment, among others. However, the polices of Modi government are benefiting only a few industrialists in the country,” said the Congress vice-president.