GST launch: The missing links in the midnight tryst

PM Narendra Modi, President Pranab Mukherjee launch the goods and services tax

In the Central Hall of Parliament, on the right of President Pranab Mukherjee sat three dignitaries — Vice-President M Hamid Ansari, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. But on Mukherjee’s left were placed only two chairs, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda occupied. There was space for a third, where former prime minister Manmohan Singh, arguably the man who contributed most to the ushering in of the goods and services tax (GST), would have been seated. But the Congress boycott of the midnight ceremony had meant Singh was forced to remain absent.

Jaitley recalled the contribution of some of his predecessors, including Yashwant Sinha and Mukherjee, former state finance ministers Asim Dasgupta and K M Mani, both of whom were present in the hall, and also Amit Mitra, who was absent since his party, the Trinamool Congress, also boycotted the function.

Conspicuously, not once did Jaitley mention Singh and his contribution. In his 30-minute speech, the PM acknowledged the contribution of several governments in giving the tax reform its shape. But he couldn’t bring himself to recall the contribution of his predecessor. 

P Chidambaram’s was another name missing from the speeches. The PM termed the GST a “good and simple tax”. But the subtext of his speech, and that of the midnight ceremony, was layered and complex. The function might have been an attempt to recreate the historical meeting in the Central Hall that had ushered in the Independence of the country, and the famous “Tryst with Destiny” speech of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Modi, however, didn’t stake claim to Nehru’s legacy. Instead, he indicated that by rolling out the GST to economically integrate India with “one nation, one tax” he saw himself as the successor of India’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who had integrated India politically by getting over 500 principalities merged into the Indian union.

Ratan Tata arrives to attend the launch of GST at the Central Hall of Parliament in New Delhi on Friday. Photo: PTI

Addressing the gathering that included Union ministers, state finance ministers and industrialists like Ratan Tata, Modi stressed how the GST would be poor friendly, even as the Congress Twitter handle repeatedly tweeted excerpts of Modi’s speeches as the Gujarat chief minister where he had blocked the UPA’s attempts to implement GST. The Congress also tweeted how the Modi government was a “suit boot ki sarkar”, a government of and for moneybags.

Several of the Opposition parties, who are slated to oppose the National Democratic Alliance’s presidential candidate, broke ranks to attend the event. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar sat with BJP leader L K Advani and BJP chief Amit Shah, while NCP’s Praful Patel arrived with Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Patel had succeeded Rudy as the civil aviation minister in 2004. Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (United) members were also present, but Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and party senior Sharad Yadav gave it a miss.

Also missing were Amitabh Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar and several top industrialists. There was, however, a single Congress member present, if not in the Central Hall, but in the premises of Parliament. Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu sat under the statue of Mahatma Gandhi with placards that declared the GST was anti-handloom.

The Left parties might have boycotted the event, but Asim Dasgupta, former West Bengal finance minister in the Left Front government and the first head of the GST committee, attended. Also, former Kerala finance minister, who has been with the Opposition to support its candidate Meira Kumar, KM Mani also was present.