| Date: |
07-04-2016 |
| Subject: |
Rahul joins political tug of war over jewellery excise |
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New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday waded into the confrontation between jewellers and the government over the levy of 1 per cent excise duty on gold jewellery, completing the politicisation of the issue.
Weighing in for jewellers who have closed down their establishments to force the government to repeal the levy, Rahul accused the Centre of furthering the interests of big business at the cost of small establishments. "This is not an excise duty on you. This is an assassination attempt on you. You are being killed ...But why are you being killed? Who will benefit from this?" Rahul asked while addressing a gathering of protesting jewellers.
"First and foremost, big industrialists will benefit and secondly those people will gain who will extract money from your profit through pressure and blackmail. This 'babbar sher' belongs to five-six big industrialists and those who want to suck your blood and earn through 'dalali' (brokers)," Rahul said, endorsing the stand of the jewellers that the levy will give an opening to tax officials to "harass" them.
Rahul's enry into the arena confirmed that the levy of 1 per cent has turned into a battle of nerves with the government refusing to back down and jewellers rushing into the arms of the opposition groups such as Congress and AAP to drum up support for their agitation.
The government countered Rahul's attack with union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad taunting the Congress vice-president, saying he "goes anywhere he is invited". He said, "If Rahul Gandhi has actually used the term (assassination), I would say his speech writers are weak in selecting appropriate words (for him)." Arguing that the excise duty is applicable to those who had a turnover of Rs 12 crore last year and Rs 6 crore this year, Prasad said, "It is not applicable on artisans and labourers. No excise official will visit them and duty will be based on the documents they file on their own."
Jewellers have downed shutters across the country protesting against the government move to impose 1 per cent excise duty without input tax credit and 12.5 per cent with input tax credit on all articles of jewellery except for silver jewellery, other than those studded with diamond, ruby, emerald or sapphire.
So far the government has resisted the enormous pressure mounted by jewellers who have lobbied and enlisted the support of some BJP MPs and party's allies.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley has refused to roll back the proposal saying it is aimed at aligning gold with the GST when it is rolled out. He has also tried to pacify angry jewellers, highlighting several measures which the government has ensured to stop harassment. Excise inspectors have been asked to not to visit the premises of jewellers among a string of confidence- building measures.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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