Sops continue to pour in for poll-bound Gujarat

New Delhi: Sops continue to be offered in the poll-bound Gujarat even as the EC takes its time to announce the voting date for electing a new Assembly.

The BJP government in the state on Tuesday waived off 18 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) imposed on farmers using drip irrigation system. The tax will now be paid by the state-run Gujarat Green Revolution Company.

The GST waiver announced by the Vijay Rupani government will cost the state exchequer Rs 78 crore annually.

The GST relief for farmers came just 48 hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state on October 22, his third this month.

The Opposition Congress was quick to point out that the decision to slash GST for farmers using drip irrigation was taken with an eye on the coming Assembly elections.

Alpesh Thakore, a backward community leader who on joined the Congress on Monday, said in a tweet, “Waiving tax for select farmers just before the elections will not work. If you have to, waive loans of 74,000 farmers in Gujarat.”

With Mr Modi making several visits to his home state since the beginning of the year and inaugurating a plethora of projects, the urgency within the saffron party to appease Gujarat voters clearly reflects its nervousness.

The BJP has been in power for four terms in the state and even rules the Centre yet it appears jittery due to the success of the anti-government agitation by the Patel community, spearheaded by Hardik Patel, and protests by other backward community youth leaders like Jignesh Mevani and Mr Thakore to highlight attacks on dalits.

Seeing a chance to make a comeback in the state, the Congress has been campaigning aggressively with its vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s rallies garnering decent footfalls. His efforts to seek support from the influential Patel community and joining hands with dalit leaders are aimed at wresting power from the BJP.

Mr Gandhi had exhorted people during his rallies in Gujarat to reject the BJP’s bid to return for a fifth term in a row. His terming the GST as “Gabbar Singh Tax”, seems to have impressed people, especially on social media.  He said that ever since GST’s implementation, the new tax regime has ruined lakhs of small businesses.

A visibly-nervous BJP-led NDA regime has made several last-minute changes in the GST framework to address issues concerning small traders.

On Tuesday, finance minister Arun Jaitley dropped the Rs 200 a day penalty on delayed filing of GST returns for August and September.

With the Election Commission yet to announce dates for Gujarat elections, even though it has said that the result will be declared on December 18 along with the poll in Himachal Pradesh, has led to the Congress accusing the BJP-led Centre of influencing the poll panel. The BJP has dismissed the Opposition’s allegation.

The EC claimed that it delayed the announcement of the Gujarat poll date due to the state government’s request seeking more time to finish flood relief work that would have suffered with enforcement of the model code of conduct with the declaration of the voting date.