Cong to bunk ‘publicity tamasha’

Aditi Tandon

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 29

The Congress will tomorrow boycott the midnight launch of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) the Modi government has planned from the Central Hall of Parliament, the historic venue that first witnessed midnight political camaraderie when India attained Independence on August 15, 1947. That was the day when India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru delivered his famous “tryst with destiny” speech.

With today’s decision, the Congress has joined Opposition TMC, Left, DMK, RJD and Akhilesh Yadav’s SP in deciding against attending the event.

The development also means former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, invited to share the dais with PM Narendra Modi, won’t oblige though another former PM HD Deve Gowda has confirmed his presence.

Taking strong offence to what its leaders described as attempts to equate the merger of GST to Independence, the Congress said it could not and will not endorse the ruling party’s “midnight spectacle, tamasha and publicity gimmick around taxation”.

The party’s principal objection relates to the venue of the event. The Central Hall of Parliament, it says, has hitherto seen only three midnight events and each one has been associated with national freedom. “How can you see GST rollout and Independence celebrations in the same light?” Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma and Jairam Ramesh asked.

“There have been only three occasions when the Central Hall has witnessed midnight celebrations. The first was when India attained freedom. The second was the 50th anniversary of Independence in 1972 and the third was the golden jubilee of Independence in 1997. For the BJP, these occasions hold no significance because they have no contribution to the freedom movement. But for us, these are important,” Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Azad said, explaining party’s decision to stay away from the June 30 event despite having conceptualised GST.

The Congress cited a second reason for the boycott — the silence of Prime Minister Modi on mob violence, lynchings, rising unemployment and atrocities against minorities and the marginalised.

Anand Sharma, party’s deputy leader in Rajya Sabha said the “midnight spectacle ignoring harsh realities of our times cannot be endorsed”.

“We can’t be a party to this tamasha on taxation. This is neither a perfect Bill nor one nation, one tax. There are four tax slabs and we are ill-prepared for the rollout,” Sharma reasoned.

Kharge justified the boycott saying the Congress- led UPA gave landmark legislations like RTI, RTE, MNREGA and Food Security Act but never exploited the Central Hall to market any of these. PM Modi just wants publicity, he rued, while his colleague Ramesh retraced GST’s journey recording how Congress initiated the concept and piloted the Bill in Parliament and how between 2004 and 2014, there was just one man standing between the law and its rollout — then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Congress’ parting taunt for the PM was, “Someone who opposed GST for 10 years has today become its biggest votary!”