NEW DELHI: Consensus on the goods and services tax (GST) was forged with the help of favourable public opinion, finance minister Arun Jaitley said, adding that the government was accommodative of a multiplicity of views without compromising on the fundamentals of the bill. The Constitution amendment bill enabling the rollout of GST was approved by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The Lok Sabha , which passed it in May last year, now needs to endorse the changes made by the Upper House “I think public opinion in favour of this uniform tax also had an important role. Most voices were loud and clear in favour of a uniform goods and services tax in the country,” Jaitley said at a media interaction on Thursday.The GST will subsume most indirect taxes in the country into one levy. Passage of the bill was stalled in the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling National Democratic Alliance lacks a majority, as the opposition Congress party opposed the 1% tax on inter-state trade and sought a cap on the GST rate.“In fact, we have rarely seen a situation where there was a sense of public anxiety – almost an exasperation – over the delay,” he said, lauding the political consensus on the landmark reform. “The Constitution amendment bill was pending for a long time, predominantly because the Rajya Sabha was not able to reach a consensus on it.” The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which is in power in Tamil Nadu, walked out, citing opposition to many provisions.“But eventually it was the inherent maturity of Indian politics that prevailed. Not only were we able to achieve a consensus, I think the most significant aspect was that the bill was passed with unanimity,” Jaitley said, acknowledging the role of the states in building the consensus.“More and more state governments felt that this would help their revenue. Even manufacturing states were of the opinion that this would help in plugging leakages, this would expand their taxation base, this would ease the process of doing business in their states,” the minister said.This created pressure on political parties and members of parliament. “It is MPs from states who are elected, who act in tandem with the opinion of their political parties and their state governments,” Jaitley said.“And therefore it was an extremely difficult situation to reconcile that state governments belonging to almost all political parties were overwhelmingly in support of the bill and therefore it was not plausible for members of parliament to stand up in opposition,” the minister said.Jaitley said consensus-building has not compromised the bill. “We were accommodative of various views, but without compromising on the fundamentals of the bill,” he said. “I am sure once the GST is rolled out, doing business in India will be easier.”