Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday reacted to the opposition's comments about the GST reforms that were announced earlier this week. She was speaking exclusively to Network 18, days after the big GST announcements.
She also spoke about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi calling GST the 'Gabbar Singh Tax' and P Chidambaram saying that the reforms have come a little too late. The Finance Minister added that the Congress has been unable to gain the confidence of the people in its own tenure.
"Despite the overwhelming support from people for the GST reforms, it is irresponsible for the Opposition to say something, to take some credit out of it, but with hesitation that credit does not go to the government. They could neither bring it (GST), nor have they understood how it works. My sense is that the Congress high command has no understanding of how this wonderful organisation, the GST council, works, which is why they are saying such things (Gabbar Singh Tax etc)," the Finance Minister said.
"GST Council is the only constitutional body post-independence...which has done a lot in terms of revenue, and uniting the country. A lot of work was done on the next set of reforms. Even prior to 2024 elections, some like Finance moved faster, sustainability, opening of private sector, IT has been moving fast. And within eight years have come out with a simplified, reformed version of the GST," she added.
Finance Minister Sitharaman further said that drafting the new GST proposal was a “fascinating and absolutely rewarding” exercise for her. She also recalled how the process of reforms started after Prime Minister Modi spoke to her.
She said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called for the GST system to be simplified, keeping the interests of the middle class in mind.
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