New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that with Jammu and Kashmir assembly passing the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) law, the dream of economic integration of India has come true.
“Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel worked for the geographical integration of India and achieved it. But the country’s economic rules continued to vary from state to state. After 70 years, the Narendra Modi government has worked with zeal and successfully persuaded all state governments to give up 17 types of local taxes and 23 types of cess levied by them in their states and accept the GST system,” Jaitley told a gathering of Bharatiya Janata Party workers at Talkatora Stadium here.
“With the implementation of the GST (from July 1) the dream of economic integration of India has come true,” he added.
Jaitley said the soul of Syama Prasad Mookerjee (founder of BJP’s predecessor Bharatiya Jana Sangh) who propounded the idea of ‘Ek rashtra, ek vidhan’ (one nation, one regulation) must have attained peace after the Jammu and Kashmir assembly passed the SGST Bill.
“Mookerjee called for ‘ek rashtra, ek vidhan’ and the GST Bill was framed with this vision in mind. On Wednesday, when the Jammu and Kashmir assembly adopted SGST, it must have given peace to his soul,” Jaitley said.
—IANS