Demand from states for funds based on taxes ‘petty thinking’: Piyush Goyal

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday described the request from certain states for central funds to match their tax contributions to the central pool as “petty thinking” and “unfortunate.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that for the nation to thrive, the eight northeastern states alongside eastern Indian states such as Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand need to progress, he stated.

The BJP leader addressed the ‘Rashtriya Ekatmata Yatra 2025’, an event held here by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the ‘Students Experience in Inter-State Living (SEIL)’ program.

In the last 11 years, the Modi government’s “laser focus”, like that of Arjuna of the Mahabharata, was on the Northeast and eastern states, the minister added. “It is unfortunate that some states and some leaders…I don’t want to politicise it but some leaders from Maharashtra used to say….leaders of the earlier government which was there for two and a half years, they used to calculate the tax paid by Mumbai and Maharashtra and (demand) it should get back that much amount (of central funds),” said Goyal, MP from Mumbai North.

He was apparently referring to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government. “There are some states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana which say they should get back the amount of taxes they have paid. There can’t be any (greater) petty thinking (“chhoti soch”) than this. There can not be anything (more) unfortunate than this,” he said.

However, there is no reason for concern at this time since the current BJP-led administration in Maharashtra is quite attentive to the needs of Northeast India, the minister remarked. Goyal stated that the Modi administration has prioritized Northeast India through its “Act East” and “Look East” policies for the past 11 years.

He mentioned that under the Modi administration, railway links are being established among the capitals of the northeastern states and a highway network is being constructed. PM Modi highlighted that he has traveled to the Northeast over 65 times and encouraged everyone to experience the region’s beauty and culture by visiting at least once.