Concerned over constant Parliament disruptions, over 15,000 people - including the nation's top industrialists - have launched a signature campaign. The petition urges lawmakers to allow Parliament to function, debate and legislate.
The petition says, "I'm a taxpayer and my hard earned income is funding these Parliament sessions. Sign my petition asking the party leaders to pass the GST Bill before the session is over! Common man is the one suffering and our hard earned money is being wasted by our Parliamentarians. GST is one of the most critical reforms for India."
The petition has been signed by top industrialists including Rahul Bajaj, Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, Pawan Munjal of Hero MotoCorp, Adi Godrej and Kiran Majumdar Shaw.
"The Opposition cannot have these protests everyday in Parliament," Shaw said. "It clearly shows they don't want the development of the country."
"The petition is for all parties to come together. We hope that the GST will come in by April 1, 2016. India can have five years of double digit growth if the GST is introduced," Adi Godrej said.
The Congress, however, hit back, with spokesperson Manish Tiwari saying, "Where was the concern of corporate India when a minister of the government was helping a fugitive?". He was referring to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who is accused of helping tainted cricket administrator Lalit Modi get travel papers from UK to Portugal.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called the Congress's behaviour "shameful".
Shaw rubbished the Congress' allegation that India Inc kept quiet when the BJP also indulged in similar disruptive activities when the former was in power."All industry bodies actually voiced their concern even the last time around when the BJP was stalling these bills. We had the same position [back then] but this time we said, we have got to do something stronger than just making comments," she told CNBC-TV18. "That is why we have resorted to this particular petition, at least that becomes a much better form of expressing our concerns."However, the petition met with criticism from a number of opposition parties, including the JDU and TMC, which said "India Inc shouldn't lecture" lawmakers on how to work.But EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani said the petition was an attempt to express a a viewpoint to all the political parties. "I don't think it was made with the intention of casting aspersions on any political party. The idea was it is in the interest of the country. I presume what is in the interest of the country is also in the interest of all the citizens of the country."Memani added that while there was no "despondency", yet, on the part of foreign investors given the rather slow pace of economic reforms, " they would definitely like to see change happen faster to realise the potential of the country."
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