Bring petrol, diesel under GST regime: Rahul Gandhi to govt

NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has demanded that the government make five changes to the GST structure, including bringing petrol and diesel under the new tax regime.

He also asked the government to end slabs under the "the one nation seven tax" structure, "draconian powers to taxmen" and "multiple form filing", as well as announce relief for small and medium enterprises and textile and agriculture sectors to reduce their GST-linked difficulties.

These steps, he said, were needed to make GST "good" and "simple" beyond "rhetoric". Related to Gandhi's remarks, the AICC released two video clippings, "conversation with Rahul Gandhi" in which Gandhi lamented over the declining job opportunities for youth and expressed the fear that their anger could lead to violence.

Blaming the BJP government for triggering a jobless society, Gandhi said India was now creating "an army of jobless youth" and warned their anger could "manifest as violence" if the governments fails to address their issues. Maintaining that there are ways of addressing their issues, Gandhi claimed "the problem with this government was its lack of focus" on the issue.

The second clipping focused on the crisis MSEs face following GST implementation. Underlining that MSEs create maxim jobs and reflect India's enterprising energy, Gandhi accused the Modi government of "neglecting MSEs" by "focusing too much on some small business". He warned the Centre against ushering in a licence raj and opposed sweeping powers for taxmen.