BJP also hit back, with a number of Union ministers targeting Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and questioning the party's intent regarding GST.
Congress, which is seeking to make Goods and Services Tax (GST) a huge issue ahead of the Gujarat polls, on Saturday dismissed the changes made by the GST Council a day earlier as BJP's "reaction to electoral compulsions" and "installment-based tinkerism".
BJP also hit back, with a number of Union ministers targeting Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and questioning the party's intent regarding GST.
Addressing a rally in Sabarkantha, Gujarat, Gandhi said the aim of Centre's GST decision was to "break the backbone of India" and "strengthen the backbones of a selected five or six industrialists". He said the Congress would continue to fight for a 18-per cent cap on the GST slab, instead of the current 28 per cent, and vowed that the party would get the job done, "if the ruling BJP doesn't". He also reiterated that India needed a simple tax and not the 'Gabbar Singh Tax'.
Goa Congress chief Shantaram Naik demanded that cases of criminal negligence of breach of trust should be filed against GST Council members, including the finance minister and the revenue secretary, for first having recommended GST of up to 28 per cent on certain items.
AICC general secretary in-charge of Gujarat, Ashok Gehlot, said the GST Council decided to cut the tax rates due to the pressure mounted by Gandhi.
In New Delhi, AICC communication department chief Randeep Singh Surjewala said the spirit, architecture, design ,and rates of GST needed to be overhauled but BJP was only reacting to the electoral compulsions. He said the "installment-based tinkering" of GST rates reflected the "chaos and adhocism" of the BJP government.
"The BJP government, marred by amateurishness and adhocism, relented to roll back GST on a few items on Friday. The principal defects in design and architecture, however, remain unaddressed," Surjewala said.
Ridiculing the government, former finance minister P Chidambaram said on Twitter that the ministry of finance must be complimented for "improving" the macro-economic situation in four months and 10 days. "This is the time taken for common sense to germinate, flower, and ripen into a fruit," he said in another tweet.
As the Congress went hammer and tongs, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar hailed the the GST Council's decision to cut tax rates on 178 items of daily use and asserted that "people have welcomed the changes".
Hitting back at Gandhi for criticising the GST, information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani said: "The Congress was also included in the GST Council meeting. All decisions have been taken on the basis of consensus.
During the Congress rule, the GST was not passed as the state governments did not have faith in the party. Under GST, someone whose annual income is below Rs 20 lakh is already exempted. That means the poor are exempted from GST."
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Modi government listens to the public and responds to the people. "The GST was implemented with the agreement of all political parties," she said.
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