Corporates are keen that the ‘Gujarat model’ be replicated nationwide as they are out to get massive tax concessions which they enjoy in the BJP-ruled State, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury has said.
Speaking at an election meeting here on Monday to seek votes for the party candidate G. Anandan, he said that in Gujarat, farmland was being acquired at rock-bottom prices for establishing industries. Tata Motors shifted its Nano manufacturing unit from West Bengal to Gujarat, lured by a tax concession of 60 per cent.
In other words, for a Nano car costing Rs.1 lakh, the Narendra Modi government was giving the company Rs. 60,000 in tax concession. He also called the ‘Modi wave’ a media creation. If there was one, would the Gujarat Chief Minister contest from Varanasi (Kasi) and Vadodara, he asked.
He noted that the new raga, ‘NAMO-RAGA’ [Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi], was harsh on the ears of people as both leaders were using the clichés of ‘Gujarat model’ and ‘inclusive growth.’
In corruption and anti-people economic policies, the Congress and the BJP were one and the same, he said.