Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, July 6: Apprehending further alienation of J&K from rest of India due to the resolution passed in the J&K Legislative Assembly by BJP-PDP combine seeking the adoption of GST in a “modified form” under the pretext of special status, the activists of J&K National Panthers Party spearheaded by Harsh Dev Singh, its chairman staged protest demonstration at `Jantar Mantar’, New Delhi today.
The NPP protesters while raising anti- Government slogans, sought implementation of GST in the State in its ‘original form’. They also shouted slogans against BJP-PDP Govt in the State.
Addressing the media on the occasion, Harsh Dev expressed his consternation over the resolution passed with the obnoxious objective to “safeguard” the so called special status by the BJP partnered State Govt. He described the exercise as a theatrical spectacle to appease the separatists in Kashmir and bamboozle the people of the State.
“All Central laws numbering more than 40 were extended to the State through Presidential orders in consultation or with concurrence of the State Govt as laid down in Art 370 of Indian Constitution but the introduction of the resolution seeking alteration of Central GST under the garb of special status had blown the BJP’s 70 years old slogan of State’s full integration with India into smithereens”, Harsh Dev regretted.
Admonishing the BJP-PDP coalition for succumbing to the pressure and dictates of the secessionist forces, Singh said that the State Govt had indirectly conveyed to the subversive camps that it had not jumped into the national bandwagon on GST but resorted to modify the new tax regime for its implementation in the State.
Opposing Toll tax at Lakhanpur he said that the retention of the Lakhanpur Toll Plaza when all such points across the country had been abolished under the new tax regime, was violative of the principle of ‘One Tax, One Nation’. He also questioned the exclusion of cross LoC trade from the purview of GST. Senior leaders Yash Pal Kundal and Rajesh Padgotra also spoke on the occasion.