GST Bill tabled, Cong din scuttles debate

The much talked about GST Bill was finally introduced in the Rajya Sabha amid a huge pandemonium created by Congress MPs leading to adjournment of the House without initiation of debate on the Constitution Amendment Bill. The Congress was left alone in the protest in the House as major political parties like the Samajwadi Party and the TMC did not aligned with the principal Opposition party whereas several members of left parties remained absent. 

Amid stormy scenes and vociferous slogan shouting by Congress members, Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said, “This being a Constitution Amendment Bill, I cannot take up the Bill in pandemonium”. He then adjourned the House for the day. A Constitution amendment requires “Division of Votes” or voting for which every member has to be in his or her seat. 

later addressing the media, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hit out at Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi saying they had taken the defeat in 2014 elections badly and were creating obstacles in the path of national growth. Jaitley, who introduced the Bill, said that the GST will boost GDP and bring down prices but the Congress is becoming a stumbling block in the economic drive of the nation. The Congress objected to the Bill citing procedural issues. 

When Jaitley got up to move the Bill for consideration, Congress members rushed into the Well of the House shouting slogans. “They want to stall the growth of the country and that is why Session after Session they are using one pretext or the other to stall it. That is why they are using the pretext of the External Affairs Minister. 

The Congress party does not want the economy to grow. They must candidly say so...They don’t need any pretext,” Jaitley said.Earlier, Deputy leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said a discussion on the GST Bill cannot be taken up as it was not discussed in the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) and no time had been allocated for it. He objected to the Bill being listed in the business without the consent of members.

Responding to Sharma’s objections, Jaitley said when the Bill came up for consideration of the House earlier, a time of four hours was fixed for a discussion on it by the BAC. Thereafter, he said, some members wanted the Bill to be sent to the Select Committee which has now returned the Bill to the House along with the amended Bill and should be taken up for consideration now.

Unrelenting Congress members, however, continued to create uproar and raised the pitch of their slogans. Demanding a ruling from the chair over the procedural lapses, Sharma said the Bill was not discussed in Business Advisory Committee and the earlier time of four hours allotted for a debate had lapsed. The ruling, however, could not come by the Chair as Congress members jumped into the Well of the House the moment Kurien took the Bill. 

Stating that disruption politics is dangerous both for the Congress and the country, the Finance Minister appealed to the Congress to “see reason and come on the path of cooperation particularly in relation to policies they themselves had at one stage proclaimed”.“We on behalf of the Government, along with the support of all parties who are supporting the GST, are determined to pursue this and will take all correct measures politically and constitutionally to achieve this goal,” he said. 

Jaitley said the Congress had mooted GST in 2006 and introduced a Bill on it in 2011, but failed to bring a consensus among States. Chairman of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers KM Mani said that it will become “very difficult” to roll out the new indirect tax regime by the April 2016 target if the GST Bill is not passed in the current Session of Parliament. He added that in case the passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill is pushed to the Winter Session, efforts will be made to enforce it from April 1. Earlier in the day, Mani met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. 

AICC spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi backed the GST Bill but regretted the procedural lapses questioning the Government motive. “GST should ultimately come, but since today as late as today, an attempt was made to again introduce the GST Bill without the BAC discussing it in any manner. We are, however, happy that the BJP, the Prime Minister, Arun Jatiley are finding the GST to be so much in the public interest. This wisdom appears to have dawned after consistent obdurate obstruction for seven long days. You have press cuttings which show officially that one of the principal reasons why Gujarat, under the then stewardship of our present Prime Minister, opposed GST, because of several judicial proceedings going on against BJP president Amit Shah,” Singhvi said.