Gandhi was in Surat to take part in 'Black Day' protests to mark the first anniversary of demonetisation on Wednesday
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi came down heavily on the Narendra Modi-led central government, saying that the twin blow of demonetization and Goods and Services Tax (GST) have broken the legs of textile and diamond hub in Surat.
Gandhi was in Surat to take part in 'Black Day' protests to mark the first anniversary of demonetization on Wednesday. This was the Congress leader's second visit to Surat in less than a week, as he had also visited the city for a public meeting on November 3.
Gandhi visited a power loom unit in Katargam locality of Surat and interacted with unit owners and workers. "There was an attack on India's economy a year back. The people here have told me that notebandi (demonetization) and GST have broken Surat's legs. The two blows have finished the industry not only in Surat, but in the whole country," Gandhi said.
The Congress leader, who is expected to take over as party president in the very near future, said that Surat is a place that can compete with China, and it has been doing so. However, instead of helping them, the government has destroyed them, Gandhi said.
During his visit, Gandhi also visited a diamond factory and interacted with the diamond polishers. He was explained and shown the process of diamond cutting and polishing. Later in the evening, he also held an interaction with traders in Surat. The Congress leader said that they had cautioned the government against hasty implementation of GST, especially so quickly after demonetization, but claimed that the government refused to listen to them.
"We had asked Narendra Modi ji and Arun Jaitley ji not to implement GST in this way. We had told them that it will kill our industries and businesses, but they said that they will implement it at 12 midnight, and went ahead with it," he said.
Gandhi also said that while his party was in favour of implementing GST, it should have been done in a way that it helped the industries. "The idea of GST is to have one tax for one nation. But, the current GST has five different tax slabs and is very complicated. We had demanded that 18% should be the maximum tax rate under GST, but they have fixed 28% rate of tax," he said accusing the government of being indifferent to small industries and businesses.
Gandhi also participated in a candlelight vigil as a part of the 'Black Day' protests. In a newspaper article on the first anniversary of demonetization, Gandhi said that livelihood of millions of honest countrymen was destroyed because of the Prime Minister's 'thoughtless act'. "Modi's reforms have robbed India of its economic prowess," he alleged, adding that demonetization had wiped out 2% of the GDP.
(With agency inputs)
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