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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a public gathering in Jharsuguda, accused the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh of "blocking" relief measures initiated by the Centre by imposing extra taxes on fuel and cement despite cuts by the Centre and alleged that wherever the Congress is in power, it "loots" the people.

"The Congress government is in power in Himachal. The Congress has gotten into the habit of hurling all sorts of abuses at me. When we reduced the GST rates, prices came down across the country, but Congress does not want to give this relief to the common people. Earlier, when we had reduced the prices of diesel and petrol, wherever there were Congress governments, they imposed a second tax on diesel and petrol there, keeping the prices the same and filling their own coffers. When our government reduced the price of cement, the Congress government in Himachal imposed its own tax. The benefit that the Government of India wanted to give to the people of Himachal was blocked by the Congress's plundering government standing like a wall in between. Wherever the Congress government is, it will loot the people there," PM Modi said.

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He added, "You know well what the situation was earlier. Congress never missed a chance to loot you. In 2014, when you chose us, we freed you from Congress's loot system. Under the BJP government, the era of double savings and double income has begun." Earlier on Wednesday, the Principal Media Advisor to the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Naresh Chauhan, welcomed the Centre's decision to reduce GST slabs but accused the Modi government of exploiting people for eight years under what he termed a "Jaziya tax."

Chauhan said, "We welcome the decision to cut GST slabs, but let the BJP government explain why, since 2017, it looted the people by imposing this very GST as a form of Jaziya tax. In eight years, they squeezed the public and collected ₹55 lakh crore. What explanation does Prime Minister Modi have for this?" Chauhan further alleged that the Centre never passed on the benefit of low global crude oil prices to the public, saying, "The profit from cheaper crude was handed over to big industrialists. Why was the public deprived of that relief?"
He also credited Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for consistently opposing the high GST structure.

"It was Rahul Gandhi who, from the very beginning, said the GST slabs should be reduced. The Congress had described it as a Gabbar Singh Tax. The Modi government should not mislead the public today but admit that it has only corrected its mistake," he said. Chauhan added that despite the Prime Minister's announcement, there had been "no reduction in prices of goods in the market."

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During the Jharsuguda event, PM Modi highlighted the government's development push in Odisha, saying the state was moving ahead with "double engine" speed. He announced the launch of BSNL's indigenous 4G services and the approval of two semiconductor units for the state.

(Note: Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Daily Jagran staff. Credit:ANI)