Chandigarh, August 2:
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha on Tuesday slammed the union government for ever-escalating GST and inflation, which has put a colossal burden on the common man across the country.
Condemning the union government for levying the GST on the sarais of Golden Temple, Chadha termed it ‘Aurangzeb jizya tax’ imposed on Sikhs and Punjabis.
“Imposition of GST on the sarais clearly shows the anti-Sikhs and anti-Punjabis attitude of the BJP government. The union government should roll back this decision at once, Chadha said.
Taking a dig at the central government for rising inflation, Chadha while giving reference of a Bollywood song “Mehngai dayain khaye jat hai” (Inflation is consuming us all), Chadha said that it has now become a reality under the BJP regime. The inflation is consuming the poor-people amid incessantly increasing price of household goods and other essential things across the country.
“Farmers, as the producer and consumer, are facing the double blow of inflation and the union government has done nothing to ameliorate their fiscal conditions. Even the government has not increased the promised MSP on various crops. Farmers are reeling under the huge debt but the government is only concerned for their corporate friends,” MP Chadha said in his speech.
Lashing out at the union government for their failed policies to revive the economy of the country due to their anti-poor policies, he said that it is a shocking fact that for the first time in history, now rural inflation is higher than urban areas.
He said that the previous governments made the rupee a senior citizen, but the BJP government crossed the rupee value over 80 against the dollar and sent it to the “Margdarshak Mandal”.
Comparing the inflation with Ravana (demonic creature in Hindu mythology), Chadha said that just like Ravana had 10 heads, the country’s inflation also have 7 heads including Energy tax, service tax, GST, cost pull inflation, rising cost but income diminishing, dipping value of Indian rupee, government-corporate alliance and highest tax on crude oil.
He said that the Centre government had made Rs 16 lakh crore through the excise duty imposed on fuel between 2016 and 2022 and fuel prices had both risen over 75 times in the past year.
