Leave Jaitley’s side, he will take you down: Kejriwal to PM

Taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the contentious issue of excise duty on non-silver jewellery, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “leave” Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s side if he did not want to lose the support of traders. 

Gold traders, jewellers and artisans have been observing a strike since March 2, demanding roll-back of the budgetary proposal that has impacted the trade. 

Addressing a gathering of jewellers at Jantar Mantar, Kejriwal warned the BJP of “erosion” in its support base among traders and wondered if Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Modi had any difference at all as the ruling BJP at the Centre was “implementing” the policies of the erstwhile UPA dispensation. 

“The notion was that the BJP is a party of traders. Then what has happened now? I want to tell the PM that Jaitleyji will not have to gather votes or contest elections. You need votes so please be a little careful. If jewellers are cheated, then traders will leave the BJP’s side,” the Chief Minister said. 

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener’s address, peppered with sharp jibes at the PM and his pet projects such as ‘Make in India’, was lapped up by a sizeable crowd that repeatedly raised slogans against Modi and Jaitley. 

Kejriwal claimed that BJP MPs and even Union Ministers were in “favour” of the jewellers’ demands contrary to the PM’s “adamance”. 

“Even MPs are wondering as to what Jaitley has explained to the PM,” he said. 

“The BJP is on one side and the PM on the other. But why? The PM is under total control of Jaitley. I am smaller in terms of age and experience than Modiji, but I have a small suggestion for him. Please leave Jaitleyji’s side, he will take you down,” Kejriwal added. 

He also read out a series of tweets by Modi in his capacity as Gujarat Chief Minister, where the latter had opposed a similar move by the erstwhile UPA government to impose one per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery. 

“What has changed? People thought that the PM is with them, but you have cheated them. The Congress used to impose excise duty and people brought you to power thinking you won’t repeat the same. But now that you have repeated the act, what difference is there between you and Sonia Gandhi?” Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal added that the imposition of excise duty on jewellery items will bring back Inspector Raj in the country.

“The excise duty was introduced without consulting the jewellers. The government is not going to benefit with this tax. Rather it will give rise to corruption. The excise inspectors will ask for bribe from traders,” Kejriwal said.

He added that he had also discussed the issue with President Pranab Mukherjee.

“Mukherjee also agreed with us that the excise duty will give rise to Inspector Raj. When he was the finance minister in 2012, the UPA government had also introduced excise duty on jewellery items but rolled it back in 22 days, after facing resistance from jewellers,” said Kejriwal. 

Kejriwal said if the Central government was so keen on increasing its revenue, it should recover the money lent out to big corporate houses.

“The banks have failed to recover Rs.7.3 lakh crore lent out to 10 big corporate houses in the country. Those businessmen were not even paying any interest. The government will not have to impose unnecessary taxes on the common man, if it manages to recover the money,” the Chief Minister said.

Lakhs of jewellers across the country have been protesting the budgetary proposal to impose one per cent hike in excise duty on non-silver jewellery since the last month. Their strike continued for the 33rd day on Sunday.