Congress protests against 'faulty implementation' of GST

The Congress on Tuesday staged a protest against the faulty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in its current form, saying it has adversely affected the business of the small and medium traders.

Hundreds of Congress workers who marched from Jantar Mantar in central Delhi to Parliament House were stopped by police near Parliament Street police station.

The demonstrators carried banners and placards with slogans opposing the GST and its implementation which affected traders and small businesses.

Addressing the demonstrators, Delhi Congress President Ajay Maken said: "The BJP-led central government has implemented the GST to help its rich and industrialist friends, as the GST in its present form, with multiple tax slabs and an outer limit of 40 per cent, has broken the backs of the small and medium-size traders and the common people."

The former Union Minister said: "The GST that the Congress wanted to introduce had an outer limit of 14 per cent which would have been the most practical way of bringing a uniform tax structure in the country -- one tax, one nation -- but the Bharatiya Janata Party government's GST with multiple tax slabs would only help its rich and powerful friends."

The Congress leader also said "the GST has affected the poor and medium class people so badly that the price of a cooking gas cylinder will now go up by Rs 32".

Maken said that the party has been waging the fight of the small and medium-level traders and the common people against GST inside Parliament, and the party workers would go to every nook and corner.

He said the Congress party's GST never wanted to impose taxes that impacted "Roti, Kapada aur Makan" of the common people.

"The Congress workers have taken the pledge that they would not rest content till they end the monster-like GST unleashed on the people by the Narendra Modi-led central government," Maken added. - IANS