Jaitley calls for unity in polity for sake of GST

With the Congress being non-committal on attending the midnight GST launch event in the Central Hall of Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said there should be no politics on the proposed new tax regime.

“I don’t know what they will do. All decisions (on GST) were taken collectively and we want the launch programme to reflect the collective nature of our polity,” Jaitley said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will be present for the launch of GST on the midnight of June 30. Jaitley had also invited former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda to attend the game-changer moment in economic reform.

The GST “is for the entire country, and the President would be there and there should be no politics over it”, Jaitley told a televsion news channel programme, while adding that all political parties had supported the GST Constitutional Amendment Act in Parliament. But for Jammu & Kashmir, all states have passed the State GST (SGST) Act.

Taking a dig at the Congress, the minister also insisted, “The GST Council is the first federal institution where every decision was taken by consensus. No decision was taken on the basis of UPA vs NDA, or on the basis of politics. All decisions were taken keeping in mind the benefits to the country and traders.”

A rehearsal will be carried out on Wednesday in the Central Hall of Parliament to ensure that the GST launch event goes off as planned on Thursday midnight.

The rehearsal, which would begin at 10 pm, is expected to be supervised by either Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, his deputies Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and S S Ahluwalia, Secretary Rajiv Yadav, official sources said. Representatives from various ministries, including finance, will participate in the rehearsal.