GST is Gabbar Singh tax: Rahul

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday gave a new meaning to the acronym for Goods and Services Tax (GST), calling it a Gabbar Singh Tax, based on the famous character in Bollywood flick of 1980s Sholay.

“The GST is nothing but a Gabbar Singh Tax. It has destroyed scores of small businessman. Now, you will have to change this GST. You will have to simplify it.

Else, the country will suffer,” Gandhi said at a public rally in Gandhinagar to officially induct OBC youth leader Alpesh Thakore into the party fold.

The Congress vice president used the opportunity to hit out at BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Today there is not one person or community in Gujarat that is not on the streets agitating. This is a strange situation that for some unknown reason, the entire state is involved in agitation,” he said. “Modiji has harassed them so much that they cannot remain quiet. Like you (Alpesh), there are two more youngsters, Hardik and Jignesh. Every Gujarati has a voice in his or her heart, which can neither be suppressed nor bought,” he said, in an indirect reference to allegations made by Patidaar agitation leader Narendra Patel.

“You pay them a crore, 10 crore, 50 crore, 1,000 crore, entire country’s budget or all the monies in the world. The voice of Gujarat cannot be bought,” he said.

Rahul also hit out at BJP on multiple issues as demonetisation and rising unemployment. He also raised the issue of farm debt waiver, saying that the loan of Rs 35,000 crore extended to Nano was sufficient to waive the entire debt of farmers in Gujarat.

Gandhi also took a dig at BJP president Amit Shah, by urging Modi to utter one “word” about rise in fortunes of Jay Shah, son of Amit Shah, while addressing the nation.

Earlier, speaking at the rally, Thakore said he had done so after surveying over 25 lakh families across the state.