Theatre personality Prasanna warns of intensifying anti-GST stir

Eminent theatre personality and face of the ongoing Tax Denial Satyagraha in Bengaluru, Prasanaa, warned of intensifying his campaign against GST. Speaking to National Herald, he said he will continue his indefinite hunger strike until the Modi government rescinds GST on all handmade products.

“It is for the first time since Independence, GST has been imposed on handmade products. Rural sector, already distressed, will take a worse turn if this regime persists. GST is a topsy-turvy regime. Under this regime, luxury products have become cheaper while handmade ones have become expensive. Cars and cigarettes cost less while a Khadi saree, a handloom kurta, a mat, a pot and a plough shall cost more,” he added.

Referring to Modi’s speech in Ahmedabad in which PM cried foul to be blamed alone for the GST catastrophe, Prasanna commented, “Modi in his Monday speech has conceded that GST was a wrong decision but the problem is that he is putting the onus on others. To err is human but to rectify is divine. Modi government should amend the GST and keep all handmade products out of the tax.”

Modi, in his Ahmedabad speech, had said, “GST implementation was a unanimous decision. All political parties including Congress and states including Congress-ruled Punjab, Karnataka and Meghalaya decided the implementation together. This is not the Prime Minister’s or the Centre’s decision alone.”

When asked about the definition of handmade products, Prasanna explained that “products that take two-third hand processing should be called handmade”.

Meanwhile, a committee headed by sociologist Ashish Nandy has released an interim report in which 200 products have been identified as ‘handmade.’

Releasing the report on Wednesday, Prasanna said that some of the handmade products identified by the committee has 0% tax, while some have been levied 28% tax. “The list is not final but it will help the GST council to identify handmade products,” he said.

Constituted by the Gram Seva Sangha, the committee that prepared the list include film maker Shyam Benegal, water conservationist Rajendra Singh, leader of the Federation of All India Handloom Organisations Uzramma and former Karnataka Director-General and Inspector General of Police, Ajay Kumar Singh.

Prasanna told National Herald that the Karnataka government will take up the issue of 0% tax on handmade products at the next GST council meeting. The Gram Seva Sangh had sent a letter to Narendra Modi signed by over 10 important personalities from Karnataka on October 12 in which zero tax on handmade products was the demand. Historian Ramchandra Guha, Jnanpith Awardee Girish Karnad and Chandrashekara Kambara are among those who signed the letter.