Team Clarion
CHENNAI — Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday launched a blistering attack on the BJP government after Annapoorna restaurant owner ‘apologised’ to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over his remarks on Goods and Services Tax (GST), saying that the request of the small business owner was met with arrogance and outright disrespect.
A leaked video of a private conversation between Srinivasan, the managing director of Coimbatore’s renowned restaurant Annapoorna and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has caused a stir in political circles.
Barely minutes after the video went viral, the DMK, Congress and other netizens criticised the BJP for allegedly forcing a reputed hotelier to tender an apology for his Thursday’s remarks on GST 12 in Coimbatore.
In the leaked video, Sree Annapoorna Restaurant owner Srinivasan could be heard saying to the finance minister that he was not affiliated with any party, before apologising.
“When the owner of a small business, like Annapoorna restaurant in Coimbatore, asks our public servants for a simplified GST regime, his request is met with arrogance and outright disrespect. Yet, when a billionaire friend seeks to bend the rules, change the laws, or acquire national assets, Modi Ji rolls out the red carpet. Our small business owners have already endured the blows of demonetisation, an inaccessible banking system, tax extortion and a disastrous GST,” Gandhi said.
Further reacting to the apology, Rahul said: “The last thing they deserve is further humiliation. But when the fragile egos of those in power are hurt, it seems humiliation is exactly what they’ll deliver. MSMEs have been asking for relief for years. If this arrogant government would listen to the people they would understand that a simplified GST with a single tax rate would solve the problems of lakhs of businesses.”
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate called the entire episode as ‘height of arrogance’
Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai apologised for the action of his party functionaries in sharing on social media a video of a private conversation between Srinivasan and Sitharaman.
Srinivasan had raised the GST issue at an event and had said: “The problem is that GST is applied differently to each item. For instance, there is no GST on bun. But if you apply cream on it, the GST becomes 18 per cent.” Due to this, customers, especially families, ask for bun and cream separately saying they will apply the cream on the bun themselves to save money, he had said.
“People say that the finance minister has levied 5 per cent GST on sweets and 12 per cent on namkeen because people eat a lot of sweets in the north and in Tamil Nadu, sweet, namkeen and coffee go together. Please charge uniform GST,” Srinivasan had pleaded and jocularly said the computer was getting stuck because of this GST confusion.
Condemning the “humiliation” of the third-generation entrepreneur and an iconic personality of Coimbatore, AIADMK spokesman Kovai Sathyan said in a post on X that the extraction of an apology showed the extent to which the BJP government was inebriated with power.
“The peak of arrogance is a sign of destruction,” he added. — With PTI inputs
