Rahul Gandhi takes Gabbar Singh Tax jibe at Centre

​Hyderabad: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the Goods and Service Tax (GST) would be implemented in its true spirit after his party comes to power at the Centre. “There will be only one slab in GST in the place of five now in force,” he said.

Addressing women belonging to Self Help Groups (SHGs) at Classic Convention Center at Shamshabad, Rahul Gandhi said that in the NDA government regime the GST lost its real purpose and became Gabbar Singh Tax meant to loot the people. He said that after the Congress comes to power at the centre, it would provide support to the SHGs by providing loans and pensions to them. 

Rahul Gandhi criticised that the SHGs in the country were denied support by the governments at the Centre and the state as they are against women moving forward. He said that Congress wants progress of women in all fields including political and financial spheres. 

He alleged that the Centre has enough money to waive the loans of the rich industrialists but has no money to advance to the SHG women and farmers. He said that the Centre has been benefiting 15 industrialists of the country and waived about Rs 5 lakh crore of debts they had raised from banks. 

Replying to a question from Sharifa, a member of SHG, Rahul Gandhi said that if the banks support the SHGs, unemployment problem would ease. If small traders are encouraged, employment opportunities would grow, he said.  
He pointed out that the erstwhile Congress government in Karnataka had waived Rs 30,000 crore loans of the farmers whereas Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to raise minimum support price by Rs 10,000 crores. The loan waiver of Karnataka was thrice what the Prime Minister has promised as MSP. 

Coming down heavily on the TRS government in the State, Rahul Gandhi said that a single-family rule was going on in the State. He said that the government has been taking away the lands from the farmers. The SHGs had no support from the government and MSP has been denied to farmers. He alleged that corruption was on the rise in the state, and similar situation was prevailing at the Centre also. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao have forgotten the promises they have made to the people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi failed to keep his word on creating two crore jobs in the country in two years. Health and education were beyond the reach of the common people. Universities have been privatized. “Common people are unable afford even X-Ray scanning,” he said. 

He said that while the Prime Minister calls for ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’, women are subjected to rapes. In Uttar Pradesh an MLA indulged in rape and no action has been taken against him. In Bihar, girls were raped, and atrocities have been taking place on women. 

Rahul said that if Congress forms government at the Centre it would provide educational opportunities to the poor and would provide better health care. The poor students could also become engineers and software professionals. He alleged that the programme to provide medicines free of cost in Rajasthan, one was one which was launched by the previous Congress government, has been wound up by the present government. Rahul alleged that no rich person was disturbed when demonetisation took place in the country. The poor were forced to stand in queues to get money whereas no rich man was seen in them. The new currency notes reached them through the backdoors of the banks. 

He alleged that government has been taking money from the people and lending it to the private persons. The value of nonperforming assets has risen to Rs 12 lakh crore during the present government period. In the guise of fight against the black money, the government has looted the pockets of the common people. 

He said that women of Andhra and Telangana have proved that they were better than the bureaucrats in organising the SHGs. When he has asked the officials of Uttar Pradesh to organise SHGs in Amethi and Raebareli areas, they have thrown their hands into the air. But when SHG women from combined AP were taken there they have shown how to form the groups. 

SHG group members Anitha, Kesli Bai and others interacted with Rahul. In his address PCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy said that if Congress forms the government in the state it would renew the Abhaya Hastam pensions programme. The SHG women would be provided with Rs 10 lakh bank loans. They would be given Rs 1 lakh as grant. In her address Telangana Women Congress president Nerella Sharada has alleged that the government has been neglecting the SHGs in the State. 

She said that Congress would provide all the support to them if voted to power. The programme was also addressed by All India Women Congress president Susmitha Dev. Senior Congress leaders RC Khuntia, K Jana Reddy, Mohammad Shabbir Ali, J Geetha Reddy, Ponnala Laxmaiah, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, A Revanth Reddy, Sabitha Indra Reddy, Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, G Chinna Reddy, D Sridhar Babu, Akula Lalitha, Balaram Naik, P Karthik Reddy and others 
participated.