Congress on Wednesday alleged that the Centre is hiding data regarding foreign aid received during the unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases in the country. While former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi asked why there is no transparency regarding medical supplies sent from across the world, his party colleague and Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal demanded immediate convening of a GST Council meeting for a serious mid-term correction on tax issues.
“Questions about Covid foreign aid: What all supplies has India received? Where are they? Who is benefiting from them? How are they allocated to states? Why no transparency? Any answers, GOI?” Rahul tweeted.
Earlier in the day, quoting a news report about the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data regarding the unemployment rate in the country, Rahul slammed the Modi government and said it failed in the fight against COVID-19.
“There are neither vaccines nor employment. The public is facing the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic. The Modi-government absolutely failed,” Rahul tweeted in Hindi. He has repeatedly criticised the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by the Central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also targeted the government over its going ahead with the central vista project even as the country has been hit by a second wave of COVID-19, saying the amount could be used for fully vaccinating 45 crore Indians or for procuring one crore oxygen cylinders.
In a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress said it is writing on the GST issue when the country is in the middle of battling the new wave of COVID which is more devastating in many ways than the one before. “With interest rates down by close to 200 basis points, shouldn’t we cut down interest rates under GST law (as also under other tax laws),” Badal asked in his letter.