HYDERABAD: BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Tuesday demanded that the Union government abolish the GST on handlooms. In an open letter to the Centre, ahead of the GST Council meeting, Rama Rao said that after breaking the backs of hardworking citizens of this nation with uncontrolled price hikes for over a decade, all the chatter about GST slab abolishment feels like yet another ‘jumla’ (empty promise).
“On behalf of the BRS and scores of common men of this country, I demand actionable and impactful plans to ease out the burden that is crumbling us all for over a decade,” he said.
“If the prime minister really wants to bring ‘a true Diwali’, don’t let fuel prices burn our pockets, reduce the hiked prices and abolish additional excise duties and cess on all fuels — diesel and petrol,” he added.
The BRS leader also requested to implement zero GST on life and health insurance, all cancer and life-saving drugs, and most importantly on all education fees.
“We strongly reject the Centre’s attempt to portray the removal of the 12% GST slab as a ‘pro-poor’ measure. This is yet another eyewash, a classic ‘jumla’ to mislead the public. The 12% slab accounts for only 5% of the total 22 lakh crore GST revenue.
Reassigning goods from this slab to other slabs and then claiming credit for ‘massive reform’ is both deceptive and laughable. Over the last decade, your government taxed even basic necessities like milk, curd, pulses and salt under GST. You escalated the prices of petrol, diesel, and LPG without remorse, burdening crores of families. Now, in an attempt to whitewash those blunders, you leak news about slab restructuring to distract from real issues,” he added.