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‘Will messenger of God answer?’: Chidambaram takes jibe at FM over ‘Act of God’ remark

The Congress leader asserted that the two options given by the Modi government to the states to bridge the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation gap are “unacceptable”.

New Delhi: A day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the economy could see some contraction because of ‘an act of god’, apparently referring to Covid-19 outbreak, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram today sarcastically called her “the messenger of God”.

Novel coronavirus has severely impacted the already stressed out economy. Various rating agencies have also predicted growth rate in this fiscal.

However, Chidambaram was unsparing in his attack despite the FM admitting that economic growth will be hampered this fiscal.

“If the pandemic is an ‘Act of God’, how do we describe the mismanagement of the economy during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 BEFORE the pandemic struck India? Will the Finance Minister as the Messenger of God please answer?” Chidambaram tweeted.

His response comes a day after Sitharaman referred to COVID-19 pandemic as an “act of God” and said there could be contraction of the economy.

“This year we are facing an extraordinary situation. We are facing an act of God where we may even see a contraction of the economy,” she had said.

The Congress leader further asserted that the two options given by the Modi government to the states to bridge the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation gap are “unacceptable”.

“The two options given by the Modi government to the States to bridge the GST Compensation gap are unacceptable,” he said, adding that the financial burden falls entirely on the states under both options.

“Under the first option, the states are asked to borrow by pledging their future receivables under-compensation cess. The financial burden falls entirely on the states. Under the second option, states are asked to borrow from the RBI window. It is more market borrowing, only by a different name. Again, the entire financial burden falls on the states,” the Rajya Sabha MP tweet.

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He also said that the Centre is absolving itself of any financial responsibility which is a “gross betrayal” as well as a direct violation of the law.

On Thursday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 41st Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting.

The Centre has given two options for compensating states on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to bridge revenue shortfall as the economy faces a prospect of contraction in current fiscal year due to COVID-19 crisis.