Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for urging states to reduce VAT in "national interest" to benefit the common man during a virtual interaction with chief ministers and reiterated that her government had spent Rs 1,500 crore in the last three years to subsidise petrol and diesel prices in Bengal.
"The interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi was completely one-sided and he alone delivered an utterly misleading speech. The facts shared by him were wrong. We have been providing a subsidy of Re 1 on every litre of petrol and diesel for the last three years and have spent ₹1,500 crore to give relief to the common man but the Modi government is not paying Rs 97,000 crore that is due to us. We have also waived road tax to the tune of Rs 400 crore to provide respite to the masses," Banerjee said.
She maintained that her government had wanted 50:50 share of the revenue earned from petrol and diesel but the Centre is taking 75 per cent and the state gets only 25 per cent.
"We are taking only 25 per cent tax and you still want us to reduce our share, how will the states function. In fact, the total revenue that the Central government had earned till September 2021 from 2014 when it had assumed office for the first time has been over Rs 17.31 lakh crore through taxes on petrol and diesel only. This figure will be much higher if the amount collected from tax on cooking gas is taken into consideration," she added.
Banerjee slammed the Prime Minister for collecting cess from the states in sectors like education, industry, road, agriculture etc without giving back a single penny in this connection to the states.
She reiterated that the responsibility of reducing petrol, diesel and domestic gas prices rests entirely with the Centre and the Prime Minister cannot shy away from it.
"You cannot attribute the price rise to the states and we demand an immediate reduction in prices that will be of immense help for the common people," Banerjee said. Countering the Prime Minister's claim that states like Gujarat and Karnataka had earned less revenue last year by reducing VAT, Banerjee said: "You give 50 per cent more funds to the BJP-ruled states but continue to deprive Bengal and other non-BJP states.
Give us 50 per cent of Rs 97,000 crore that we owe from you, we will pay Rs 3,000 crore to you the very next day. In a democratic set up, all states are slated to get equal treatment but you are bulldozing democracy by depriving certain states," Banerjee remarked.
She claimed that there was no scope for the chief ministers to speak at the meeting and hence, they could not counter the Prime Minister's statement.
"It would have been better had the PM not spoken on fuel price hike in a Covid-19 review meeting, which was his one-sided agenda and so, nobody was even allowed to speak," she added.
Earlier, Modi flagged the issue of high fuel prices in some Opposition-ruled states and urged them to cut tax on petrol and diesel so as to provide relief to consumers. This was his first reaction to the rising fuel prices.
"I request states to reduce VAT on fuel prices in the spirit of cooperative federalism," the Prime Minister said during the concluding remarks of his interaction with chief ministers over rising Covid cases in the country. He added that the Centre had reduced excise duty last November to ease fuel prices and had also advised states to cut taxes.
"I am not criticising anyone but am praying to you for the welfare of people of your states... I urge you to reduce VAT now even after a delay of six months to benefit people," he said.