New Delhi: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, on Thursday, said that it was only Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s faith that “economic integration” in the country became a reality with the implementation of GST from July 1.
Speaking at a function organised by the Delhi BJP on the birth anniversary of party ideologue Shyama Prasad Mookerjee at Talkatora Stadium, Mr Jaitley said that it was due to the efforts of India’s first Union home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel that the country has been politically integrated since 1950.
“Now, GST has economically integrated the nati-on with one tax, one rate,” he said.
He emphasised that the implementation of GST in the whole country after the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly passed it, is a step towards Dr Mookhej-ee’s dream of one nation.
He said, “Since day one, PM Modi was clear that India has to be unified economically. He devised not just a compensation formula that was put in the Constitution Amendment Bill, but also got all the 29 states and seven Union territories on board to agree with the new tax regime.”
Giving a background of GST, Mr Jaitley said that the Atal Behari Vajpayee government took the first step by constituting a task force, which submitted a report in 2003 saying that Central and state levies should be merged or unified into one goods and services tax (GST).
Taking a jibe at Congress, Mr Jaitley said that GST was in the party’s election manifestos. However, at the last moment it flipped as it was not sure if the new tax regime would pay off.
