Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi yesterday mounted a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, terming the GST ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ that has hit hard the country already nursing the wounds of demonetisation.
Gandhi was speaking at a massive rally in Gujarat’s capital Gandhinagar where OBC leader Alpesh Thakore joined the Congress.
The gathering was a veritable show of strength of the Thakore community, which forms a major chunk of the Other Backward Classes. Thakore has a state-wide hold over the community. His move to join the Congress would be a morale booster for the party looking for a victory in Gujarat after 22 long years.
Gandhi said Modi imposed demonetisation last year on a personal whim, pushing millions of people into distress. And if this was not enough, he introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in a tearing hurry.
“The GST was brought by the Congress, but there was a ceiling of 18% and did not have five slabs like the present one. We requested the government to go slow, but they just would not listen.”
He called the Modi government anti-poor and said it was working against the interests of the common people.
Welcoming the trinity of Alpesh Thakore, Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mevani, who are leading agitations in Gujarat, Gandhi began his speech with ‘Jay Mataji, Jay Sardar and Jay Bhim’. The three terms are popularly used as community greetings of the Kshatriyas, Patels and Dalits respectively.
He asked: “Why is it that almost all the communities in Gujarat are agitating, for the first time? It is because since 22 years of the BJP rule, the government has not done anything for them, but worked only for a handful of industrialists.
“The people are tormented by Narendra Modi and they will no longer remain silent. They will speak out.”