Govt using GST smokescreen to hide failures, says Congress

The Congress on Wednesday accused the Modi government of hiding behind the “smokescreen” of delayed GST to cover up its failures in steering the economy.

Rejecting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s contention that the Indian economy performed well in a year of turmoil, senior spokesman Anand Sharma blamed the Modi government for alleged mounting job losses, sluggish economic growth, increasing farmers’ suicides and dismantling of the social security net by crippling budgetary cuts.

Sharma dismissed Jaitley’s charge that the Congress was blocking development and wanted to know whether non-passage of GST could be held responsible for a “free fall” economy.

“This is a smokescreen of the government to hide its failures,” the former Union minister said, adding that the economy had performed well even when the BJP had blocked GST for five years during the UPA regime.

Addressing the year-end press conference, Sharma said the 19 months of the Modi government have been marked by “unaccountable centralization of power” and this “authoritarian style of functioning has resulted in breakdown of the structures of governance”.