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Updated: Jun 15, 2020 09:01 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to Goods and Services Tax (GST) in his Independence Day speech as a tax unifier introduced by his government to rationalise previous tax regimes in states and at the Centre has prompted a response from the Congress party. A tweet by @INC India said the GST with its 5 tax slabs was far from realizing ‘one nation, one tax’ system. The tweet also claimed that “poorly implemented” GST had resulted in a “massive loss” to the economy.

“Given that GST has 5 tax slabs, “One Nation, One Tax” is far from reality. It is also our duty to remind the PM when he speaks from the Red Fort that the poorly implemented GST resulted in a massive loss to the economy & forced closure of multiple MSMEs,” the tweet read.

The above tweet was Congress’ only reaction to Prime Minister’s speech delivered on 73rd Independence Day from the Red Fort. Former party president Rahul Gandhi had earlier tweeted best wishes for Independence Day along with a famous quote from Mahatma Gandhi.

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“Complete independence will be complete only to the extent of our approach in practice to truth and nonviolence.” - Mahatma Gandhi. My best wishes to all of you on this our 73rd Independence Day,” Rahul had tweeted.

Prime Minister had spoken of “one-nation, one-constitution”, “one-nation, one-election” and “one-nation, one-tax” as main initiatives to streamline governance, while speaking on the need for greater integration within the country.

“One nation, one constitution- this spirit has become a reality and India is proud of that,” Prime Minister had said referring to abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A that conferred special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

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The Prime Minister built further on the theme and said, “GST brought to life the dream of One Nation, One Tax. India has also achieved One Nation, One Grid in the energy sector. Arrangements have been made for One Nation, One Mobility Card. Today, India is talking about One Nation, One Election.”

Senior Congress leader and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had earlier in February said that the small and non-organised sectors which were vibrant and contributing to generation of wealth and employment opportunities had grievously suffered in the wake of the disastrous demonetisation and the introduction and implementation of the Goods & Service Tax (GST).”

Goods and Services Tax (GST) came into existence in the year 2016 after years of delay due to differences between the states and the Centre. Consensus on GST had also eluded political parties.