Traders boycott Hooda’s protest call against GST
ROHTAK: The protest call given by Congress leaders led by former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda against imposition of goods and services tax (GST) on cloth attracted support of only a handful of merchants at Shouri market — one of the largest wholesale cloth markets of Asia — in Rohtak, which is considered Hooda’s stronghold .
The ex-CM, along with his son and Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda, had reached out to the cloth merchants to support their demand of rollback of the GST on textiles.
However, the association of the market boycotted the event accusing Congress leaders of fulfilling their political motives in the name of opposing GST.
Addressing a small gathering, Hooda maintained he had opposed the GST even when the Congress-led UPA was planning to implement it. “The plan chalked out by the Congress for GST was still much better. The BJP government’s plan will lead to the re-emergence of the inspector raj in country. Items such as diesel and petrol should come under the GST slab so they could get cheaper, not clothes,” Hooda said.
Deepender, on the other hand, said he will boycott the special session of Parliament for GST launch if the concerns of the cloth merchants were not addressed by then. The fatherson duo was accompanied by Rajya Sabha MP Shadi Lal Batra, Meham MLA Anand Singh Dangi and Kalanaur MLA Shakuntala Khatak besides others.
The Shouri market remained shut on Thursday as part of the three-day nationwide strike against the GST.
The market association maintained they did not support the protest call f Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president and Hooda’s political rival Ashok Tanwar as well.