Thank you, Gujarat. Elections did what Parliament could not!

“Thank you Gujarat, your elections did what Parliament and common sense could not do,” tweeted former finance minister P Chidambaram late on Friday evening after the GST Council finally succumbed to criticism and slashed tax rates on 177 items to 18 per cent. The sarcastic tweet was followed by a roadmap for the future.

“Congress party's next goal will be to push for one rate: RNR with an RNR plus and an RNR minus.”

The former finance minister last month had told National Herald that he would have rolled out GST differently and pointed out the design and structural flaws in the way it had been rolled out.

Earlier this month, he, in a column in The Indian Express had pointed out that the Modi Government and Arun Jaitly had disregarded the report of its own Chief Economic Advisor who had recommended a Revenue Neutral Rate (RNR) of 15 per cent plus or minus one. Not surprisingly, he felt vindicated following the GST Council reversing the rigid stand of the Government.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has cut a sorry figure after claiming for weeks that the rates were irreversible and would not be changed, PTI had reported in June.

“Asked if there would be any further revision of rates, the minister said the fitment committee and the GST Council have gone into the depth of all the cases and whatever rates have been decided are based on "informed reasons" and "detailed discussions".

"These broadly are the final rates... just because somebody raises an issue does not mean you have to grant it," Jaitley had stated.

The hashtag #RahulGSTimpact trended for a long time on Twitter.

Union ministers however put up a brave front and congratulated the Prime Minister for the lowered rates. Dharmendra Pradhan, the Petroleum minister, tweeted : ModiGovt sets a higher benchmark in incorporating people's feedback into governance. #GST rates on 177 items reduced from 28% to 18% by @GST_Council in 23rd #GSTCouncilMeet held at Gauhati today. #GST is an evolving tax mechanism & iterative reforms are integral part of it.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted, “Congratulations to FM @ArunJaitley for today’s successful #GSTCouncilMeet. The decision to move nearly 80% of items to a lower tax bracket will provide relief to consumers and promote ease of doing business.”

He followed it up with this :