GST Bill will 'definitely' be passed: Prakash Javadekar

Lucknow: A day after Parliament was adjourned sine die, the government on Friday came down heavily on the Congress, blaming it for the near washout of the monsoon session and asserted that the GST Bill will 'definitely' be passed.

"I tell you that GST Bill will definitely be passed. You take it down. Even in the Rajya Sabha, we enjoy majority for GST," Union Environment and Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters here. He also hinted that a special session could be called for passage of GST.

Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die on Thursday and the two Houses have not yet been prorogued.

"As you know this session has been adjourned sine die, but not prorogued," he replied to a question whether a special session would be convened.

Javadekar blamed the Congress and the Left for the washout, especially in the Rajya Sabha, where no legislative business could be transacted.

"They (Congress) created a balloon against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, but it deflated. They tried to raise the issue of Madhya Pradesh (Vyapam) and Rajasthan (Lalitgate), but failed in their attempt," he said.

The senior BJP leader alleged that the Congress had decided right from the beginning to stall the two Houses and said the party is still unable to overcome its defeat in Lok Sabha elections.

"Like the British rule, the Congress had a notion that they will never get out of power, but with time they lost power in states and became irrelevant," he added.

The Congress agenda, Javadekar said further, always veered around the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Javadekar said the Congress feared it would remain in political wilderness for the next 14-15 years as it was unnerved after the Modi government stormed to power with a thumping majority. He said while the Congress cried foul over suspension of 25 MPs from the Lok Sabha, they got 125 MPs "unnecessarily arrested" during the Emergency and never apologised.

Javadekar also accused the Congress of "stalling the progress of the country" by disrupting Parliament. "Democracy is not in its nature," he alleged.

"They want to stall the progress of the country. When they were in power they used to hold up files... We have started giving approval to all development projects by taking states into confidence," he said. He further alleged that the Congress did not want the country to prosper, thinking that it had a future only if poverty continued. "But the mentality of poor has changed, now they also want progress, therefore they elected Narendra Modi, which the Congress cannot digest," he said.

The Union Minister claimed that some non-NDA states too are on board on GST.

When pointed out that even the BJP opposed GST when it was in the Opposition, Javadekar said: "At that time, our opposition was because of objections raised by many states, and we said they should be taken into confidence and a consensus evolved."

He added, "We created consensus among the states in one year. This is the difference." The Minister termed the Congress as "anti-poor, anti-progress and anti-democracy".

"We will tell people all this. The Congress is hell bent on destroying the country," he alleged.

Pitching Jan Dhan and recently launched insurance schemes, Javadekar said the Modi government is pro-villagers and pro-poor.

"We have a direct relationship with the poor, which others could not digest," he added.

On the Land Acquisition Bill, he said a Joint Committee examining the issue will submit its report in the winter session.

"From the first day, we made nine changes. Whatever good suggestions came, we accepted," the Minister said.