Tamil Nadu entrepreneur apologises to Nirmala Sitharaman after his viral video criticising GST complexities

A video has gone viral on social media allegedly showing Srinivasan, the MD of Annapoorna Hotel in Tamil Nadu, apologising to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. In the video, Srinivasan, who is also the chairman of the Tamil Nadu Hotel Owners Federation, is seen apologising to Nirmala Sitharaman, saying, “I do not belong to any party. Please excuse me.”

What Srinivasan said about GST

The video was originally shared by Balaji MS, Social Media Cell State Convenor of the Tamil Nadu BJP. According to some claims on social media, Srinivasan, who runs one of the most popular networks of restaurants in Coimbatore, was made to apologise to Sitharaman after he criticised the complexities around the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

In a previous video that was widely shared by opposition politicians in Tamil Nadu, Srinivasan was seen criticising the GST system, citing the complexity of different tax rates for various food items.

“The MLA sitting on your side is our regular customer. She used to fight over our GST bill. Different GST rates for everything. 5 percent GST for sweet and 12 percent tax on spice. Different GST for the bun and different GST for the cream inside. Even the officials are confused by different GST, like the customers,” Srinivasan told Sitharaman at a recent event during an MSMEs meeting held in Coimbatore on September 11.

Reactions to Srinivasan's apology video

The video of Srinivasan's apology has been met with shock and anger on social media, with many calling out the arrogance of the Union Finance Minister.

DMK MP Kanimozhi said that the Union government and the Union Ministers should not hurt the self-esteem of Tamil Nadu.

This is not the first time the BJP has found itself in an awkward spot when it comes to taxation in the southern region.

'Chaliye Puducherry ko Vanakkam'

The most famous such incident happened in December 2018 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was interacting with BJP workers from Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry.

When a man who introduced himself as Nirmal Kumar Jain stated that the middle class believed that the government was only busy collecting taxes and they did not get the relaxation they were hoping for, the PM, instead of responding to him, ended the interaction saying 'Chaliye Puducherry ko Vanakkam.’

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