• Notification Date: 14-03-2022
• Notification No: N/A

Bengal Government Not Paying GST for Muslim Traders

West Bengal Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya has presented the first Budget at the state assembly on Friday, March 11 after being selected as the Finance Minister of the state. In this scenario, a screenshot has become extremely viral on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. The screenshot claims that the West Bengal government has denied paying GST for the Muslim traders of the state.

People have shared a screenshot in the Hindi language on social media platforms that states that GST has been waived off for Muslim traders. The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee would pay their GST.

The text in the screenshot states that the West Bengal government has decided to pay all the pending taxes of the Muslim traders as they have been massively affected by the introduction of GST. Their taxes have been waived off by Mamata Banerjee-led government. In West Bengal, the population of the Muslim community has reached the level of 35 per cent. This decision made by the West Bengal government has proven that the state has actually turned into an Islamic state.

India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has detected the content in the screenshot to be absolutely bogus and fake. The state government of West Bengal has not taken any such decision. There are no media claims. While investigating the matter, AFWA has found some similar post that was posted 4 years ago. A Twitter user had posted a cut-out piece from an old Hindi newspaper dated back to July 14, 2018. The newspaper cut-out states that the West Bengal government will pay the taxes of the Muslim traders.

The report available from the investigation revealed that the Finance Minister of West Bengal back then, Amit Mitra had offered some help to the Muslim businessmen to file their GST reports.

West Bengal’s Minister of State for minority affairs, Ghulam Rabbani has denied the claim of the news. He claimed that these are fake news and rumours that are being spread by the opposition parties to malign the fame of the Chief Minister of West Bengal. The claims of waiving the GST of the Muslim traders are completely baseless.