The Opposition Congress today asked Amitabh Bachchan to refrain from promoting the Goods and Services Tax (GST) or face protest from the party. The superstar responded by saying he is doing it because he was asked.

Mumbai Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam has asked the 74-year-old Bollywood superstar to stop promoting GST, a uniform tax regime set to be launched on July 1.

"He should not promote GST in its current form. There is already anger among traders against it. There will be protests against it and also against Big B as he is the brand ambassador. So he so should not promote GST," Nirupam said.

"...a campaign to explain GST. I was asked, I did it," tweeted Amitabh on Tuesday, addressing his tweet to the official handle of the Central Board of Excise and Customs, the body responsible for administering indirect taxes in India, and which made Bachchan its brand ambassador.

A 40-second video featuring Bachchan has also been released by the government, in which the actor explains GST as a "unifying force, just like the three colours in the national flag". "GST - An initiative to create a unified national market," the Finance Ministry said on Monday in a tweet, attaching the video.

Ace badminton star PV Sindhu was previously the GST brand ambassador.

WHAT IS GST?

GST will simplify a web of taxes, regulations and border levies by subsuming an array of central and state levies including excise duty, service tax and VAT. It is being dubbed as the most significant economic reform since BJP government came to power in 2014 and is expected to add as much as 2 percentage points to the GDP growth rate.

A four-rate structure that exempts or imposes a low rate of tax 5 per cent on essential items and top rate of 28 per cent on cars and consumer durables has been finalised. The other slabs of tax are 12 and 18 per cent.

GST also represents an unprecedented exercise in fiscal federalism. The GST Council, that brings together the central and state governments, has met 17 times to thrash out how the tax will work.

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