Textile traders’ anger over GST may hit BJP’s prospects in five assembly seats

SURAT: Sitting BJP MLAs and new faces preparing to contest assembly elections on the party ticket from the Diamond City have a reason to worry. At least five assembly constituencies could witness upset wins because a large number of textile traders and power loom weavers are unhappy with the implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) and the central government's failure to provide them relief.

Assembly constituencies of Udhna, Majura, Katargam, Limbayat and Choriyasi in the city have sizeable population of people connected with the textile industry and many women are involved in tikki, lace patti and small embroidery work.

For the first time, over 95 per cent of textile markets located on Ring Road did not illuminate the markets during Diwali festival and around 70 per cent of textile shops are yet to open up when marriage season is all set to kick-start from November. Tarachand Kasat, who led textile traders in the protests against GST in July, resigned as executive member of the city unit BJP. In the coming days, many more traders may resign from the party to register their protest against the GST.

In the parliamentary elections of 2014, textile traders had supported BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. They had printed sari boxes and carry bags depicting pictures of Modi.

Former president of Federation of Surat Textile Traders' Association (FOSTTA) Devkishan Manghani said, "The traders, this year, celebrated 'black Diwali'. Barring a few markets, most of them were not decorated with colourful lightings. This shows the anger among the traders"

About 4 crore metres of fabric used to be produced daily in Surat has been reduced to one-and-a-half crore metres since the implementation of GST. Around 350-odd power loom machines are being sold in scrap on a daily basis and power loom weavers have shut their units for a month-long Diwali vacation.

"Apart from textile workers, unit owners, there are around 2.5 lakh women who do small embroidery work on saris and dress material. These women, who mostly work from Katargam and Varachha, have lost employment due to the slowdown in textile business," FOSTTA secretary Champalal Bothra said.

A BJP leader said, "Anger is quite palpable among textile traders and power loom weavers. The central government has taken several measures to simplify GST. Recently, the basic customs duty (BCD) on imported fabrics was increased from 10 per cent to 25 per cent. This is going to benefit power loom weavers and knitters."

by via Surat News, Latest Surat News Headlines & Live Updates - Times of India