Noting Congress’ opposition to some provisions of the GST bill was based on national interest, Singhvi said among the issues of difference was that Congress wanted an independent body to resolve disputes between states but the government had left the task to the GST council itself. Its policies were a liability on the economy of this country when the Congress was in government.
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Rahul’s comments provoked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who hit back saying the Congress was playing politics of obstruction, which was anti-development since it was blocking the passing of the economic reform GST bill.
“The house cannot be conducted in a manner in which the government is not being allowed to speak”, he told Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien, who is also a Congress Party leader.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Hamid Ansari then adjourned the house till 2 p.m.
Jaitley said the party stands isolated with nearly no political group supporting its disruptionist programme.
They said since their demand for adjournment motion was not being accepted, they have been maintaining that discussion under other rules can take place after the BJP leaders resign.
The tax is a key part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to streamline India’s inefficient tax system, where numerous state and federal taxes push up the cost of products and services. “But, the opposition party is shying away from discussions and debate”, Javadekar said and alleged that it appears as if the Congress had earlier decided not to let the House function and now they are searching for an appropriate reason to justify their actions”.
He said the Congress objection is that there should be limit of 15 per cent or 18 per cent for the overall tax so as to ensure that Indian economy remained globally competitive.
Jaitley said GST will transform India into one uniform market for seamless transfer of Goods and services.
The BJP government is all prepared to re-introduce the GST tomorrow, Jaitley said.
Noting that state governments belonging to the Congress have consistently supported the proposal, he asked whether the party was adopting a negative role “only out of an obstructionist attitude”.
Kashyap said the option of joint sitting both Houses of Parliament is not available in the case of a Constitution amendment bill.
“It will help to eventually bring down prices because there will be no tax on tax”. After that, more than half of the state assemblies would have to ratify it before the tax can be implemented across the country.
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Responding to questions, Jaitley said GST has been introduced already. “The Congress was using Swaraj only as an excuse to block the GST Bill”, he added. “We will try every alternative mechanism”.
