“Will Messenger Of God Please Reply?” P Chidambaram’s Swipe At Centre

New Delhi:

Congress chief P Chidambaram has taken a swipe at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the “act of God” remark she made on Thursday whereas describing the coronavirus pandemic and its affect on GST assortment.

Sarcastically hailing the Finance Minister as “the messenger of God”, Mr Chidambaram demanded she additionally clarify the federal government’s “mismanagement” of the financial system earlier than the Covid disaster started.

“If the pandemic is an “Act of God”, how will we describe the mismanagement of the financial system throughout 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 BEFORE the pandemic struck India? Will the FM because the Messenger of God please reply?” Mr Chidambaram requested within the first of 5 tweets posted Saturday morning.

If the pandemic is an ‘Act of God’, how will we describe the mismanagement of the financial system throughout 2017-18 2018-19 and 2019-20 BEFORE the pandemic struck India? Will the FM because the Messenger of God please reply?

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) August 29, 2020

Mr Chidambaram, and different senior Congress leaders, have pointed to a gradual decline in quarterly GDP progress charges – from 7.1 per cent in Q2 2018/19 to three.1 per cent in This fall in 2019/20. 

In Might Mr Chidambaram mentioned three.1 per cent GDP progress in January-March quarter of 2019-20 was a telling commentary on the financial administration of the federal government.

His celebration colleague and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh mentioned the federal government was in denial over its dealing with of the financial system, which he referred to as “parm-atma-nirbhar (dependent on God)”.

In his tweets at this time Mr Chidambaram additionally labelled each choices given by the Narendra Modi authorities to counter the shortfall in GST (items and companies tax) assortment as “unacceptable”.

“Below the primary possibility states are requested to borrow by pledging future receivables beneath compensation cess. The monetary burden falls solely on the states,” he tweeted.

“Below the second possibility, states are requested to borrow from the RBI window. It’s extra market borrowing, solely by a special title. Once more, the whole monetary burden falls on the states,” he added.

Below the second possibility, States are requested to borrow from the RBI window. It’s extra market borrowing, solely by a special title. Once more, the whole monetary burden falls on the States

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) August 29, 2020

“The central authorities is absolving itself of any monetary duty. It is a gross betrayal in addition to a direct violation of the regulation,” Mr Chidambaram declared.

Two days in the past Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned the pandemic had affected GST assortment – a shortfall of Rs 2.35 lakh crore for fiscal 12 months 2021.

“… this 12 months we face a rare state of affairs. We are facing an act of God the place we might even see a contraction,” she mentioned.

The centre has launched over Rs 1.65 lakh crore as GST compensation to states for fiscal 2020, together with Rs 13,806 crore for March, the Finance Minister mentioned, noting that cess collected for GST compensation was solely Rs 95,444 crore.

The assembly of the GST Council was held amid extreme strain from states looking for compensation for income shortfall amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The centre is hard-pressed to pay GST dues to states that haven’t earned a lot this 12 months on account of months of lockdown necessitated by the COVID-19 disaster. Punjab, for instance, mentioned it might see a income deficit of Rs 25,000 crore this 12 months.

Congress-ruled states (which incorporates Punjab) and people run by events aside from the BJP have mentioned the centre has a statutory obligation to pay GST dues. The centre claimed it has no such obligation if there’s a shortfall in collections.

Nevertheless, the federal government’s prime lawyer, Legal professional Normal KK Venugopal, has additionally mentioned the centre has to compensate states absolutely for the lack of income in GST throughout the coronavirus disaster, in line with sources.

Yesterday Congress MP Rahul Gandhi additionally hit out at Nirmala Sitharaman over her “act of God” comment, and mentioned the economy had been “destroyed” by three actions – demonetisation, “flawed” GST and a “failed” lockdown.

With enter from PTI