Country under undeclared emergency, tax terrorism order of day: Yashwant Sinha

Panaji: Launching another attack on the Modi government, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday said "tax terrorism" has become the "order of the day" under the current government and that the country was under an "undeclared emergency".

He said the emergency imposed by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi of the Congress in 1975 was political in nature, contrary to the "current emergency" which is an undeclared one.

"When we were in the opposition, we used to accuse the then UPA (government) of being involved in a tax terrorism. We had promised that if voted to power we will finish it," Yashwant Sinha said while addressing a group of intellectuals, on the topic 'Indian economy and challenges before democracy'.

Yashwant Sinha had in April announced that he was severing all ties with the BJP and preparing to launch a nationwide campaign to save democracy.

Also Read: Taking 'sanyas' from all kind of party politics: Yashwant Sinha quits BJP

"After demonetisation, there are 20 lakh cases filed seeking explanation about the money deposited with banks during that period," Yashwant Sinha said.

He said the GST (Goods and Services Tax) regime, introduced by the current government, has landed lakhs of traders into trouble.

"Since the introduction of GST on July 1, 2017, there are 357 amendments made. This is a joke with the tax system in the country and everyone is troubled. The traders who are from the villages where there is no electricity are being told to file their tax online. How can he do that?" he asked.

Yashwant Sinha, who held finance and external affairs portfolios in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, walked out of the BJP on a bitter note. He has been publicly opposing the Modi government's economic policies and style of functioning.