Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
Rahul Gandhi campaigning

Congres Vice President Rahul Gandhi while addressing the audience at the 112th annual session of PhD Chambers, on Thursday accused that the Modi government had killed the Indian economy through a double tap of demonetisation and a badly conceived GST.

Just a few hours later of Prime Minister Narendra Modi assuring that the GST will eventually be beneficial for the poor and the middle class, Rahul attacked Modi saying it was badly conceived measure.

While inaugurating the International Conference on Consumer Protection for East, South & South-East Asia in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured that GST will bring down the prices of goods and will benefit the poor and the middle-class people in India. Defending his moves Modi had said that with the implementation of one tax regime, had reduced travel time for trucks from five to three days, translating into lower transportation costs, as the checkposts at state borders were scrapped.

He also argued that after GST the competition amongst the companies had increased which would ultimately result in lowering the prices of goods and hence benefit the poor and the middle class. “In the coming days, this will be transferred to consumers. Today, some people may be benefitting from higher transport costs but in the days to come, the benefits will be transferred to the consumers, middle class, lower middle class and the poor,” Modi had said.

Rahul Gandhi who had recently termed GST as the “Gabbar Singh Tax” lashed out at Modi saying that even though the Prime Minister was trying hard to convince the people that GST was in favor of the poor and the middle class, the nervousness of BJP can be seen as the traders are protesting against the tax regime and this is hampering the image of BJP ahead of the assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and hence Modi is blaming Congress to be involved in the implementation of GST.

Taking a jibe at Narendra Modi for his failed experiments of demonetisation and GST, the Congress leader said that “The way this regime is working — or not working — has led to a ‘double tap’ killing of the Indian economy. Commandos in a hostage situation fire what is called a ‘double tap’ — two quick shots fired in the chest to ensure that their devil’s target is down, is dead.”

Addressing the gathering Rahul also attacked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, saying that the even the businesses are suffering heavy loss and the economy is drowningJaitleyey has the nerve to come up on the television and give false hopes to the people that “everything is fine”. He said that Start Up India could not be accompanied by Shut Up India.

Further attacking the Modi government he accused that for some reason the Prime Minister and his government has started to believe that every single person in the country is a thief. He added that “Business thrives on trust and the trust in this government is dead.” He said that the trust can only be built by listening and there is no other way, but today, there is no one in the government who is ready to listen to the pain that the people are facing.

The Congress leader added that globally India is being asked again and again if it still believes in its values of compassion and non-violence. Attacking the recent controversy over Taj Mahal, Rahul said that people once looked up to India for its leadership and values but today they laugh at the nation as the country is busy debating, whether one of the seven wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal was actually built by the Indians.

He also announced that in a couple of weeks from now, on 8 Nov, the opposition will observe the death anniversary of the 500 and 100 rupee note. Attacking Modi, he continued that on 8 Nov, Narendra Modi personally wiped out 86% of the currency in circulation overnight. It was a move taken without thought, without consultation or concern for its consequences, he added. The Prime Minister failed to grasp the basic concept of the Indian economy the most fundamental concept that all cash is not black and all black is not cash.

Rahul continued listing down the failure of Modi, accusing him that he used his vast powers to unleash terror on the citizens of India, without understanding the basic concept of the Indian economy.

Lashing out the GST Rahul said that the GST or the Gabbar Singh Tax, a tax so badly conceptualised and implemented it is only adding to the distrust of the people. He added that Modi government’s GST is filled with holes, flawed in its structure, punitive in its design and it is forcing businesses to suffer massive transaction costs. GST, as this government has formulated it has already unleashed a tsunami of tax terrorism and itis only going to get worse.

Attacking the government on the failure of creating jobs, Rahul said that the situation of joblessness in the country is extremely worrying, the government is creating a massive army of unemployed youth which is toxic and dangerous. Instead of admitting that the BJP government cannot and are not creating jobs, they are riling communities against each other in a bloody rage, he added.

The Congress leader said that “as we all know the GDP rate has been slowing, private investment has collapsed, agricultural growth is at its lowest rate, exports have been declining, in 2014 India’s GDP was growing at 6.6% but today according to the new way of measuring GDP, India stands at 4.2%.” He further added that recent research by respective economists have shown that inequality in India is at its highest in over 100 years.

“We are staring at a disaster, I am not talking about the technology making jobs redundant as it is happening in the west, this is a pure man-made disaster in the terminology of the Prime Minister, an MMD- a Modi made disaster,” Rahul Said, Despite the current mess in the economy, he said that the Indian economy can be revived.

Boasting about the achievements of the UPA government, Rahul said that during the Congress rule between 2004 and 2011, a 140 million people came out of poverty, that is 20 million people every year. He further added that if stirred correctly and faithfully, for the first time ever, India has the opportunity to wipe out poverty forever. If India is able to lift another 350 million people out of poverty by 2030, it would be an achievement that the entire human race can be proud of and to achieve this it would require India to grow more than 8% in the next 13 years and this is the challenge, he said.

During the speech the Congress leader, however, also agreed that there were shortcomings in the UPA government towards the end of its days but he assured that the Congress government in the future will be much more centralised.

Rahul alleged that while the Congress tried to warn the Modi government on the consequences of GST, they were asked to mind their own business. He accused of Modi g\having a big chest but a small heart and said that “the small and medium businesses in the country “should also be heard in the corridors of power.”