GST is not about elections, it’s about good economics: Shah

NEW DELHI: BJP president Amit Shah said that the government was actively working towards resolving issues related to GST implementation.

Speaking at Agenda Aajtak 2017, BJP president Amit Shah said that GST should not be looked in view of the forthcoming Assembly elections.

“GST is probably the world's biggest sales tax reform. Even for us, GST was not about the elections, but about the betterment of economic state of the country, about freeing smallscale industries from policing and bribing crisis. When such a big change takes course, it is bound to face some difficulties in the beginning,” said Shah.

Shah stressed that within three months of GST implementation, the government reached out to people and took note of its loopholes and problems, and according to which necessary changes were made.

“Now, there's a GST coun- cil meeting being held every month, where the tee-thing-problems are being discussed and fixed,” he added. On Congress politicising GST, Shah said that every decision regarding the GST was made unanimously “with the agreement of every state leader”.

“I want to ask Rahul Gandhi, if there was so much problem with GST among Congress, why did six Congress CMS agree with it?” asked Shah.

Further commenting on GST, he said “the prime minister himself has promised the businessmen of the country that BJP is looking into this (GST crisis) with sensitivity. Every change that is required to help entrepreneurs of all level small, medium and large-scale - will be made as required. We are progressing gradually.”

On being questioned if the increase in pace to fix GST crisis is because of the Gujarat elections, Shah dismissed it saying that it was a ‘laughable' question.

“We knew since a long time that the Gujarat elections are in December. If we were planning GST in accordance to it, we would've introduced it after the elections,” said Shah.

“Our intentions are pure,” added the BJP president, triggering a round of applause from the audience. “We won't let the problems of businessmen and taxpayers of the country last for much long. We will soon come up with solutions,” he said. On the whole fiasco regarding Rahul Gandhi's Somnath temple visit and alleged registration as a non-hindu, Shah said that it was ‘not BJP, but the media that started it'.

“The BJP never questioned him (Rahul Gandhi). It was a local channel in Gujarat that first tweeted about it, after which the news went viral,” he said.

“Aap log bhi danda leke pohoch jate ho toh koi bol deta hai,” he added, pinning the whole debacle on the media.

Making a U-turn to talking about Congress, he went on, “Rahul Gandhi is going around Gujarat saying some 1,000 schools have been shut down, let him name one staterun school that has been shut down.”

Saying so, Shah accused Rahul Gandhi of reading out of notes made by his ‘managers', “only making people in Gujarat laugh like the audience here.”

Amit Shah also said that it was Congress that left Gujarat in the throes of “caste-based and religion-based violence,” evoking KHAM.

Upon being asked about Rahul Gandhi's “newfound aggressive image”, Shah joked about how BJP “stole Gandhi's very own municipal constituency in Uttar Pradesh (Amethi) from him.”