West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra on Sunday said that asking states to borrow and meet the shortfall in revenue from Goods and Services Tax (GST) “appears to be part of a planned strategy to destroy the financial health of the states and crush federalism”.
Addressing the media at a webinar, Mitra, who attended the GST council meeting on Thursday, said, “Many people are worried and see this as a pattern. Once the financial health of the states becomes shaky, the brute power of Centralism will come into play. Is this the new ideology?”
Referring to the Covid-19 pandemic “as an act of God,” as had been done by some Central ministers, Mitra said demonetization and GST were not acts of God but “acts of man”.
Mitra also claimed that Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani said in his official presentation to the GST Council on March 14 that there had been fraudulent transaction to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore in GST.