A day after Jammu and Kashmir assembly passed the Resolution for implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), the opposition National Conference described the resolution as vague, ambiguous and anti-people.
In a meeting of the NC core group, chaired by the party president Dr. Farooq Abdullah, the party described the government resolution as compromise with the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
“It amounts to a surrender of the fiscal autonomy of the state as guaranteed by the Constitution of India,” the NC core group said. The meeting was attended by the party working president Omar Abdullah and other senior leaders.
Advertisement
On Wednesday Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu said he would be implementing GST in J&K under the ambit of Article 370 after both the Houses of legislature passed the Resolution on GST.
Finance Minister said under no circumstances will the State Government amend the Section 5 of Constitution of J&K which gives it special taxation powers.
However, the NC criticized the statement of the Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu on the floor of the house in which he termed the Article 370 of the Constitution of India as an obstruction to the development and progress of the State. He said it as a reflection of the machinations of the ruling dispensation against the special political and constitutional identity of J&K.
Advertisement
The NC warned the PDP-BJP Government that this misadventure is going to have wider ramifications and dangerous consequences.
“In the garb of evolving a ‘consensus’, the State Government called a special session of the legislature to commit a monumental fraud on the people of Jammu and Kashmir by not explaining the contours of the safeguards in the GST regime that they have been repeatedly talking about over the last more than a month”, the spokesman said.
“The ruling alliance has used their majority in the legislature to muzzle the voice that reflected the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir on this crucial and sensitive issue”, he added.
He said the core group also noted with concern the BJP state chief Sat Sharma’s statement on the floor of the House that the GST implementation was “the biggest slap on the face of the separatists.” He said it was in contradiction of earlier “misleading assertions” made by the PDP-BJP alliance “wrongly claiming that the extension of GST to the State was purely a taxation matter and had nothing to do with the politics and the identity of the State.”
“The party feels that the PDP has yet again exposed the hollowness of its deceitful, much-touted political agenda of ‘Self Rule’ with the sole objective of remaining glued to political power. The Core Group reiterated that National Conference would continue to fight for the rights and aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir”, the spokesman said.
Advertisement
He said the NC has always stood for the ‘idea of Jammu and Kashmir’ as perceived and conceived by the founders of the party and would go to any extent to preserve it.
