Sir — The meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, along with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on the Goods and Service Tax Bill was meant to break the ice. The ball is in the Congress’s court now.
Whatever be its response, it ought to be fair. The Congress cannot just insist that the number proposed by them should be enshrined in the GST Bill.
Binding down the Government’s hand and foot with a pre-determined tax number, irrespective of the economic environment prevailing in the country, is ridiculous.
Moreover, it is necessary for the GST Bill to be passed this Winter Session, if it is to be implemented from April 1 next year. However hard the Congress might want to obstruct the forward-looking measure, it should know that there will be costs to be paid in reduced public approval, if it attempts to block the GST legislation.