Is Arvind Subramanian stupid too, P Chidambaram asks Narendra Modi after his 'GST' jibe at Congress

New Delhi: Defending his party’s stand demanding capping of GST at 18 percent, senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling it a “grand stupid thought” and asked if the government considered its Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian also stupid for voicing the same argument. “If it is grand stupid thought to argue for a cap of the tax rate at 18 percent, then CEA Arvind Subramanian and many other economists are stupid. Is that what the prime minister is saying,” Chidambaram tweeted. [caption id=“attachment_4216367” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of former finance minister P Chidambaram. PTI[/caption] The Congress leader asked if the prime minister had read the economic advisor’s report on Revenue Neutral Rate in which he had recommended an RNR of 15-15.5 percent. “Why can’t the normal GST rate be 15 percent and RNR plus rate on luxury goods be 18 percent? Tax and spend is the credo of the BJP government. Example: when crude oil prices fell by 50 percent, prices of petrol and diesel remained the same.” Modi at a rally in Gujarat’s Morbi had mocked at “some intellectuals and economists” for misleading the country. “The Congress wants the same 18 percent tax on something as essential as salt and something as expensive as Rs five crore worth car. They want 28 percent tax on alcohol and costly cigarettes to be reduced to 18 percent,” Modi had said. “Do you want to sell cheap alcohol and spread cancer by selling cheap cigarettes. This is nothing but a grand stupid thought. There can’t be any bigger anti-poor and anti-middle class thought,” Modi said.