Congress Speaker Sonia Gandhi on Sunday criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who led the union government, over the recent compensation controversy in the GST Council and said his denial will affect the functioning of state governments. Taking a firm stance, Gandhi said that this could be the “first example of economic anarchy” spread by the union government.
Gandhi’s comments come in the context of a section that opposition parties led states, including Congress, taking center stage on the compensation issue and demanding that the amount of the revenue shortfall be borrowed in full. of the Tax on Goods and Services (GST) and compensate the states.
“The government of India is now not even fulfilling its constitutional responsibilities. States are denied part of GST compensation. How will state governments help our people if the GOI (Government of India) breaches its constitutional obligations? This must be a first example of economic anarchy that is being spread by the Central Government, “Gandhi said while addressing a meeting of general secretaries and party officials on Sunday.
The central government had said last week that it will borrow under a special window of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and will lend the money to states that opt for debt to cover their income gap this fiscal that arises from the indirect tax reform three years ago. The loans will show as debt on the state books and the center’s fiscal deficit will not be affected.
So far, 21 states and two Union territories, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir, have opted for this option to cover their GST revenue shortfall this year. Dissident states like Kerala, which had previously said they could opt for legal recourse, having now indicated that the center should clarify how much compensation will be deferred until 2023 so that consensus can be reached in the Council on the issue.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has simultaneously demolished our economy, painstakingly built by the hard work of our Indian compatriots and the vision of successive congressional governments. Never has the country witnessed such a free fall in GDP as all other economic indices. Today, young people do not have work, “he added.
Last month, Gandhi had called on all states governed by Congress to pass bills that could circumvent the implementation of the three recently passed farm bills. On Sunday, he reiterated that the center’s measure was against farmers. His statement comes just a day before Captain Amarinder Singh, Punjab’s chief minister, who is expected to take the lead by passing a bill to negate the core laws in the state assembly on Monday.
“The current BJP government has attacked the very foundations of our resilient agrarian economy by introducing three black laws against agriculture. A conspiracy has been hatched to defeat the achievements of the ‘Green Revolution’. The lives and livelihoods of millions of agricultural workers, tenant farmers, small and marginal farmers, laborers and small traders are under attack, “Gandhi added.
This was the first meeting Gandhi held with top party leaders since the main decision-making body, the Congressional Working Committee (CWC), and office officials saw a review last month, eliminating to some of the veteran leaders and adding new faces to the roster. He was briefly abroad for a medical check-up.
“At the meeting, the party’s future course of action on the anti-peasant, anti-women, anti-labor and anti-poor policies and actions of the Central Government and the state governments led by the BJP was discussed,” said the secretary. General of Congress in charge of said the organization KC Venugopal in a statement while detailing the programs that are being organized, in particular, that involve the protests of the party to the agricultural laws.
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