Rahul Gandhi attacks Modi over lack of jobs, targets GST

New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the poor state of economy, saying he would wait to see the day when Chinese youth use mobile phones made in India to click selfies. He also promised an overhaul of GST after the party comes back to power in 2019.

Mr Gandhi’s fresh criticism of GST comes on a day when finance ministers of Congress-ruled states, including Punjab and Karnataka, sought a major revamp of the GST to save small-scale industries and the informal sector.

At a rally in Himachal Pradesh, Mr Gandhi said that he wants to see the day when Chinese youth take selfies with “Made in India” and “Made in Himachal Pradesh” phones. He said that China gives employment to 50,000 youth every day while the Indian Prime Minister is able to provide jobs to a mere 450 people. He blamed the Prime Minister for “squeezing employment opportunities” in the country and asked “where are the two crore annual jobs, promised by the BJP in 2014?”

“We will completely change the GST after coming to power in 2019 to mitigate the sufferings of the people hit by it,” Mr Gandhi said, addressing poll rallies at Paonta Sahib, Chamba and Nagrota in the hill state where voting for Assembly elections will take place on November 9 and result will be out on December 18.

Targeting Mr Modi, the Congress V-P said, “It is written in Gita that one should work and not worry about the fruits of labour. Modi ji’s interpretation is that enjoy the fruit without putting in any effort.”

“Modiji is very quick in taking the credit but poor in working, while the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, Virbhadra Singh, follows Bagwat Gita’s teaching of ‘kam karo aur phal ki chinta mat karo’ and works relentlessly,” he claimed.

Quoting from the speech of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Mr Gandhi said that “there are two categories of people; first those who just believe in the working, and second who don’t believe in working but are quick in claiming credit”.

The Congress V-P accused Mr Modi of speaking selectively on issues related to corruption and remaining silent on Vyapam scam, Lalit Modi scam or any other scam surfacing in BJP ruled states and has skipped mention of Jai Shah, or his crorepati business friends.

“Mr Modi has never spoken on Narayan Rane, the Badals (in Punjab) or Anurag Thakur’s Himchal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA),” he in Chamba.

The prime minister, had during a poll campaign in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday attacked the Congress over corruption and said Congress and corruption can never be separated from each other.

Meanwhile in Delhi, finance ministers of Congress-ruled states said that GST which was projected by the Modi government as one of the biggest reforms since independence has turned out to be a big disappointment.

“…there is mammoth confusion all around, with harassed tax payers running for cover, government going for quick fixes in the wake of forthcoming elections. The country has gone back by at least a decade,” said Punjab finance minister Manpreet Badal. He said that the biggest sufferers are the small and medium entities that are bearing much of the brunt.

The state ministers said that they would seek lowering of GST rates related to construction sector, branded agricultural commodities like pulses and in non-AC restaurants and the tourism sector.