What use is GST to Govt if it’s a pain for people, asks Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan at the launch of ieMalayalam.com app in Thiruvananthapuram

Maintaining that demonetisation and “ill-planned implementation” of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime have led to a “nationwide economic crisis”, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Friday said “what use is GST to the government if it is a pain for the people”.

Vijayan made these remarks during an interaction with editors of The Indian Express Group after launching the app of ieMalayalam.com, the Kerala-focused Malayalam website from The Indian Express. He also unveiled Kerala@60, a video series on the aspirations of the state’s thought leaders.

“The crisis created by the currency ban is severe. The government resorted to aggravating the crisis despite warnings. GST was implemented without necessary preparation, contributing to the economic crisis. The GST cannot be called a good idea. It has already taken away the right of the states to collect tax. Kerala has implemented GST, expecting that there will not be problems by adopting it. However, the state has always been opposed to the idea of GST… what use is GST to the government if it is a pain for the people,” he said.

Also Read: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan launches ieMalayalam app, Kerala@60 video series

The Centre, Vijayan said, should wake up even at this stage and seek the opinion of different states. “Recently, I had written to the Prime Minister to convene a meeting of all chief ministers to discuss the GST issue. But such a meeting did not happen. From what I understand, there was a meeting of chief ministers of the BJP. States have suffered a heavy loss on account of GST and there should be remedial measures to mitigate it,’’ he said.

The Chief Minister’s remarks came two days after senior BJP leader and former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha slammed the government over its handling of the economy. In an opinion piece, published in The Indian Express Wednesday, Sinha blamed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the “mess” in the economy, pointing out that the economy is in a downward spiral and that its revival is unlikely by the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In his keynote address, Vijayan said the media should remember that being the fourth pillar of democracy, it too has some duties. “To bring truth to light, they will have go beyond commercial considerations. While overlooking commercial interests might not always be possible, there should at least be an attempt to balance these two sides,” he said.

Commenting on the rise in cases of intolerance and communal incidents, he said Kerala has always taken a strong stand against communalism. “This is also because of the strength of Left ideology. Time has arrived when a strong stand needs to be taken against communalism and divisive politics,” he said.

“During the Emergency, The Indian Express had the courage to bring out the newspaper by leaving its edit page blank. When that newspaper group launches a news website, we have a lot of expectations. Democracy and secularism are facing a great threat… When these two elements are endangered, one must remember that media freedom will not exist,’’ he said.

Earlier, Anant Goenka, Executive Director of The Indian Express Group, said: “It is Kerala’s culture of exchange and confluence of ideas that we are here to celebrate. We commit to you to do tough stories that fearlessly speak truth to power, give voice to the voiceless. We promise not to sensationalise or reduce journalism to shouting matches. We promise to be unwavering in our neutrality.”

The ieMalayalam app, available in iOS and Android, offers the same ease-of-use and easy navigation as the website and keeps the focus clearly on the stories. It gives users the option to save and read stories offline.

At the event, ieMalayalam.com also unveiled Kerala@60, a series of 60 video interviews of the state’s thought leaders. The first batch of 12 videos feature prominent thought leaders such as former chief ministers V S Achuthanandan and Oommen Chandy, actor Mohanlal, singer K S Chitra, director Adoor Gopalakrishnan.

ieMalayalam.com was the first website to be launched as part of The Indian Express’s regional expansion. This was followed by the launch of ieTamil.com. The Group already runs Loksatta.com and Jansatta.com.