In a sharp rebuttal to the Congress party's long-standing criticism of the tax regime, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday while defending the Goods and Services Tax (GST), termed it as 'a "God-Sent Tax".

The Assam CM claimed that key defence procurements like Rafale jets and the S-400 missile systems were made possible due to GST, which helped in nation-building.

Taking to X on Friday, Himanta wrote, "Rafale jets and S-400 systems don't just appear — they are built on the strength of our taxpayers. That's why GST was never a 'Gabbar Singh Tax' — it's a 'God-Sent Tax' that unites India and funds its security, growth, and resilience."

Why this remark?

Himanta was responding to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's repeated criticism of the GST regime, where the latter referred GST as 'Gabbar Singh Tax."

In a tweet dated 1 July 2022, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the BJP government had turned Congress' proposed "Genuine Simple Tax" into "Gabbar Singh Tax".

"Congress' Genuine Simple Tax was turned into Gabbar Singh Tax by the BJP. Six rates, 1,000 plus changes in 1,826 days! Ease? It's a nightmare to do business, especially for MSMEs," Rahul Gandhi had said in the tweet.

"Congress will revive business and jobs with GST 2.0 — single, low rate, shared fairly with States," Rahul Gandhi added while using the hashtag #5YearsofGSTMess.

India-Pakistan tensions:

Apparently, Himanta's remarks arrived at a time when there has been a heightened escalation at the international border between India and Pakistan for the past couple of days.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Indian Armed Forces destroyed nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu & Kashmir under the 'Operation Sindoor'. Following this, Pakistan tried to hit India with missiles at various cities. Though all the attempts made by Pakistan were foiled as India's air defence units intercepted the projectiles and Israeli-made HARPY drones were deployed to disable Pakistani air defence systems.

In the meantime, the Indian government has heightened security measures at all points and directed the security agencies to be ready. In addition, directions were issued to states and UT Chief Ministers to make proper arrangements at all levels.

Not only have educational institutions been closed at border states and UTs, but leaves of all government personnel have been cancelled too.

With agency inputs.