Bharat Bandh on Feb 26: Traders' body claims 8 Crore will protest against GST, E-Commerce laws

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has called for a countrywide band known as Bharat Vyapar Bandh on Thursday, February 26.

The traders’ body has claimed that more than 8 crore traders belonging to more than 40 thousand trade associations across the country will observe the Bandh.

The call has been made for two crucial demands that CAIT has been raising with the government for the past some time.

According to CAIT, the February 26 protest is “against some of the draconian, arbitrary and critical amendments made recently in GST Rules.”

Besides the GST law, E-Commerce rules have also emerged as a bone of contention between the government and the traders.

The CAIT has urged the government to rectify glitches in E-commerce rules for preventing the violation of law by foreign e-commerce companies.

The CAIT has also claimed that besides traders, other associations have also extended their support. One of them is the All India Transport Welfare Association (AITWA) which is an apex body of 1 crore transporters across the country.

“It has already supported the Bandh and has also announced Chakka Jam of transport sector tomorrow all over India,” the CAIT said.

CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal haw claimed that small industries, hawkers, women entrepreneurs, etc will also join bandh.

“Associations of Chartered Accountants and tax advocates have supported the bandh and they have informed their clients not to visit their offices tomorrow,” Khandelwal said.

He added, “Tomorrow, as a mark of protest, Dharna will be held in more than 1500 cities of all States and no traders will log in to the GST portal to register their protest.”