In Coimbatore, two videos that appeared on social media within a 24-hour span in Tamil Nadu have ignited a political controversy, with the opposition parties aiming to put the BJP on the defensive regarding GST. In the first video, hotelier D Srinivasan, who owns the Sree Annapurna chain of hotels, was seen expressing his grievances to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman about the varying GST rates for different food items served in restaurants. The subsequent video, released within the next 24 hours, showed him apologizing to her.
The issue quickly escalated into a national debate on GST and provoked an online controversy. Congress, DMK, AIADMK, and Shiv Sena (UBT) criticized the BJP for allegedly coercing the hotelier into apologizing for his genuine concerns about GST. Sources close to Srinivasan indicated that he had apologized to the FM voluntarily.
K Annamalai, the TN BJP president, who was in London, intervened by calling Srinivasan and apologizing for the “unintended breach of privacy” caused by the video. Annamalai emphasized that Srinivasan was a key figure in Tamil Nadu’s business community, significantly contributing to both state and national economic growth, and urged everyone to consider the matter closed.
The controversy began on Wednesday when Srinivasan, also the honorary president of the Tamil Nadu Hoteliers Association, addressed the FM during an interactive session with MSMEs. He humorously pointed out that while a plain bun was not subject to GST, a cream-filled bun was taxed at 18%. He highlighted the inconsistencies in GST rates, with sweets taxed at 5% and savory items at 12%, and mentioned the difficulties arising from these varying rates. He appealed for a uniform GST rate for all food items, saying that the current system was causing operational problems for his hotel.
The FM did not respond to these remarks during the meeting, but on Thursday, she defended the GST rate regime in a press conference. She argued that a value-added product and a raw product could not be taxed uniformly and noted that the GST rates were determined by the GST Council, which includes representatives from all states. She assured that efforts were being made to simplify GST and reduce its burden on people.
Following her press conference, a second video emerged on social media from BJP members’ X handles, showing Srinivasan apologizing to the FM. In the video, he asked for forgiveness and stated that he did not belong to any political party, which sparked protests from opposition parties. Rahul Gandhi criticized the BJP, alleging that small business owners were met with arrogance and disrespect when seeking a simplified GST regime, while the PM extended courtesies to billionaire friends seeking to bend the rules. He further noted that small business owners had already suffered due to demonetization, an inaccessible banking system, tax extortion, and a problematic GST, and that further humiliation was unwarranted.
DMK’s Kanimozhi condemned the Union government and ministers for testing the self-respect of Tamils. Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Aaditya Thackeray suggested that had the BJP won a majority, the situation might have been even worse, and questioned whether arrogant ministers should be dismissed. BJP national women’s wing president Vanathi Srinivasan stated that the hotel owner was not coerced into apologizing by the BJP. Despite this, the controversy persisted as the BJP faced accusations of releasing Srinivasan’s apology video to “silence other critics.”
