PM Modi Remark That ‘GST Would Never be Successful’ is Edited

The Indian government has launched a nationwide initiative, “GST Mahotsav,” to celebrate the implementation of the revised Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is being called GST 2.0. The celebration began on on September 22nd and will continue until September 29th, 2025, and aims to promote awareness and understanding of the recent GST reforms, which have made necessities and widely consumed products more affordable while increasing duties on luxury and sin goods. Meanwhile, a video of Prime Minister Modi is going viral on social media claiming that before the GST was implemented, Prime Minister Modi had said that it would never be successful. In the 15-second clip, he can be heard saying, “As far as GST is concerned, the BJP and Gujarat have said from the beginning that GST will never succeed.”

Sharing the video, the handle Congress Kerala wrote, “You need a memory jog. Here is Narendra Modi, the erstwhile CM of Gujarat, categorically declaring that he will never allow GST to be implemented in India.” (Archived link)

Another handle Pankaj K Bajpai sharing the same video asserted, “Hypocrisy Narendra Modi Ji, who was once a staunch opponent of GST, became a fanatic of GST as soon as he came to power and hastily implemented its wrong pattern, which was contrary to the GST provisions crafted by Dr. Manmohan Singh. After 8 years of sucking the public dry, they are celebrating the GST reforms without even knowing how effective it is?” (Archived link)

The video was also shared by other handles like Arun Kushwaha (Archived link), Kedar Kansana (Archived link), Mahima Yadav (Archived link), and Abhi (Archived link).

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Fact Check

In our fact-check research, we took key frames from the video and performed a reverse image search. The search led us to a video on PM Modi’s official YouTube channel titled, “Shri Narendra Modi responds to PM Manmohan Singh on his comments on the Goods and Services Tax (GST).”

In the complete video, at the time mark of 37 seconds he says, ‘As far as economic reforms and GST are concerned, the BJP and Gujarat’s stance has been very clear from the beginning. Exactly a year ago, I met President Pranab Mukherjee in Gujarat, and I told him that GST would never succeed unless a robust IT network was built. He agreed and, in my presence, directed his Principal Secretary to form a task force and immediately develop an IT backup system. Only then can GST succeed.’

A clip of PM Modi, in which he can be heard saying that GST will not be successful, has been cropped and taken from here to misleadingly portray that he was against the implementation of GST. But in reality, he had stressed for proper IT infrastructures for GST to be successful.

Claim	PM Modi had said that GST would never be successful.
Claimed by	Congress Kerala, Pankaj Bajpai, and others.
Fact check	The viral clip is edited. In the original video, PM Modi said he had spoken to President Pranab Mukherjee and emphasized for the proper IT system for GST to be successful.

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