The Kerala wing of the Congress party on Friday deleted a post it had made a day ago, comparing beedis (bidis) and the state of Bihar, after heavy backlash from the BJP.
“Bidis and Bihar start with B. Cannot be considered a sin anymore," the controversial post read. It also included a chart showing current and proposed GST rates on cigars and cigarettes, beedis, and tobacco.
The post seems to call out the "sin goods" clause—as per which a 40 per cent rate was set for certain high-end vehicles, tobacco, and cigarettes—of the 2025 GST reforms not being applied to beedis, which falls under that category.
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The GST rate proposed for beedis decreases to 18 per cent, unlike the other three sin goods given in the table.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla questioned in an X post if the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav endorsed the comparison.
“Congress crosses the line again," he declared, alleging that the INDIA bloc had a "hatred for Bihar".
“After abusing PM Narendra Modi ji’s mother, now compares Bihar with Bidi ! Does Tejaswi Yadav endorse this?" he added.
Bihar's deputy CM Samrat Choudhary echoed Poonawalla's statements, saying that the "true character of the Congress" was being repeatedly exposed before the country.
The Kerala Congress' statement follows Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's jibe at the Congress: she asked if the grand old party wanted a 5 per cent tax on even tobacco and gutkha, despite the "sin goods" clause.
The new GST reforms will come into effect from September 22 onwards.