GST Bill flawed, says Chidambaram

As the government pins hope on the Budget session for the passage of Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday said it will be a pity if the government thinks it should  pass the bill merely on the basis of strength.

“It will be a pity if it is passed on the strength of the House and not the content of the law. It will be a cynical approach to legislation and politics,” he said at the release of his new book ‘Standing Guard: A Year in Opposition’.

Chidambaram said the current GST Bill is flawed one and it will be better if the government delays the legislation than to pass it in current form.

The Centre is hoping to push the Constitutional Amendment Bill in the upcoming Budget session for an early roll out of GST.

Chidambaram also took objection to the way debates are being framed in the country. He said the government is actually trying to deviate from the real issue to that of fringe ones.

“Look at the way the debate is being framed in Dadri. Dari was not whether a man ate beef or buffalo meat in his home but the real issue was whether a mob has the right to lynch a man. In the Hyderabad Central University, the debates is being framed as dalit o r non-dalit, but the debate is how an insensitive university drove a first generation learner from an under-privileged family to commit suicide,” he said.

“Similarly in JNU, the debate is not whether a bunch of misguided youth allegedly raised some anti-national slogans. But the debate is what is a university? It is  a great university in the world and not a monastry. A university is a place where I as a student, at my age has the right to be wrong. I can be ridiculous also. That is what a university is,” Chidambaram said.