New Delhi, Sep 13 (UNI) Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday slammed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for allegedly humiliating a shop owner in Coimbatore of Tamil Nadu.
He accused the Senior BJP leader of being “arrogant and a repeated offender in public interactions”.
Taking to social media handle X, Kharge said that the government has unleashed ‘tax terror’ on poor and middle class while ‘tax cuts’ are for ‘Modi ji’s crony friends!’
“The disgraceful humiliation of a small businessman, the owner of Sree Annapoorna restaurant in Coimbatore by the Finance Minister and the BJP, smacks of arrogance of power. She has been a repeated offender in such public interactions,” the Congress President said.
The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said, “The owner asked a genuine question about Modi Govt’s flawed GST and was first met with a condescending laugh by the FM and later forced to apologise to her on camera”.
He said, “MSMEs and small business owners are suffering the brunt of Modi Govt’s repeated financial assaults in the form of a flawed GST and Demonetisation. BJP is only committed to benefit Modi ji’s large crony friends!”
Kharge said that the Congress party is in favour of a simple, uniform, moderate and rational GST on essential items.
He said that the party’s 2024 manifesto said, “Congress will replace the GST laws enacted by the BJP-led NDA government with GST 2.0. The new GST regime will be based on the universally accepted principle that GST shall be a single, moderate rate (with a few exceptions) that will not burden the poor”.
“Congress party is strongly committed to this. BJP’s ‘Loot Small Owners & Shoot the Messenger’ policy spells a disaster for the Nation’s economy!” the Rajya Sabha MP added.
