New Delhi: Trying to reach out to the opposition parties, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday said that changes can be made if someone finds fault with the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
"All parties passed the GST Bill and there is no reason to skip the launch session now. GST is not BJP's event, it is nation's event," Javadekar told CNN-News18.
Several opposition parties have decided to give Parliament session to launch GST a miss, including the Congress, Left front and the Trinamool Congress.
The BJP leader also attacked Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra who has being opposing the present GST structure. “Amit Mitra was speaking something else when he was in FICCI and now under Mamata he is speaking a different language," he said.
The Congress, in an all-out attack on the meet convened by the government, has called it a "grand self-promoting tamasha (gimmick)" to gain publicity.
Javadekar warned that if parties oppose transparency people will think they are anti-poor. He said that those who earn below 75 lakh will have to pay only 1% tax which should not be an issue.
“Initially, it was hard to get everyone on board. But now all states are on the same page. Every state finance minister is saying kudos Jaitley," the minister said.
Javadekar said that the government remains committed to go ahead with the GST launch. “We are all getting together to celebrate. What is the problem in this. What is wrong in getting together to launch something this important."
He said that till now 80 lakh registered tax payers have joined and by Friday 67 lakh more are expected to join.
GST seva kendras have been opened to explain and resolve issues of the people.
“17 types of government taxes and 23 types of cesses are being converted into one. There will be less inflation. While fixing GST rate, GST council has worked very hard to calculate weightage. Any new change brings doubt but it will be smooth later," he said.
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