SIVAGANGA: In the wake of the GST council's decision to tax popcorn differently based on sugar content, former union minister P Chidambaram on Monday said the world's strangest GST is being followed in the country and the way of tax collection is flawed. Commenting on the statements made by foreign leaders on tax collection in India, he said it is purely a sovereign decision and added they cannot decide on our taxes.
Addressing media persons in Karaikudi, Chidambaram condemned the sexual assault of a college girl in Anna University and said the non-filling of the vice chancellor's post, due to the interference of Governor RN Ravi, is one of the reasons for such incidents. The governor should be aware of his limits and should not try to run a parallel government. In general, as crimes are happening in every state, I don't agree with the statement that crimes are increasing only in Tamil Nadu. Premeditated crimes can be prevented, but spontaneous ones cannot be prevented by anyone," Chidambaram said.
Responding to the BJP state president K Annamalai whipping himself, as a mark of protest, Chidambaram said it may be a lesson he learnt from England during his international studies. Countering Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that she was mocked for learning Hindi, he termed it false. Hindi language is not being taught only in state government schools, as part of the two-language formula, and the same is not the case in other schools, he added.
He further said that Chief Minister MK Stalin will be inaugurating the Tamil library of the constituency on the Alagappa University campus on January 21.