Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the Modi government was forced to bring down the GST rates after electoral verdict in three Hindi heartland states and insisted that the people have already made up their mind to defeat BJP in 2019.

Gandhi, who has been taunting Modi government over its "faulty implementation" of Goods and Services Tax (GST) by terming it as 'Gabbar Singh Tax' said that the government now was belatedly trying to simplify it.

"Modiji broke the back of small and medium businessmen through Gabbar Singh Tax. He snatched jobs of lakhs of people but his heart did not melt and he did not bring about any change," Gandhi said in a Facebook post in Hindi.

"Now feeling scared after people's verdict in the three states, Modiji is trying to make the Gabbar Singh Tax as GST. People understand it all. Gabbar you are gone," he added.

Gandhi also attached a video of his election campaign during the Gujarat Assembly polls last year in which he had made the GST's "flawed implementation" a key issue.

In the video Gandhi is seen telling people that they will force the Modi government to simplify the GST and will insist on the tax rate being capped at 18 per cent.

He is also seen repeatedly stating that the people of Gujarat and the country want a simplified GST.

His post came soon after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that computer monitors, TV screens, video games, lithium-ion power banks, retreaded tyres, wheelchairs and cinema tickets were among products and services set to get cheaper as they have been removed from the highest 28 per cent bracket under the GST regime.

The BJP was voted out of power in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the recently concluded Assembly polls.

First Published:Dec 23, 2018 1:47 PM IST