GST Bill's fate depends on government's ability to listen: Jairam Ramesh

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday said unless the government listens to the opposition, the GST Bill may get stalled in the forthcoming winter session of parliament.

"Our (political) system works through the policy of give and take. This lesson was learnt by the (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee government and hope (Narendra) Modi will learn it too," said the former union minister in response to a question over the fate of GST (Goods and Services Tax) Bill during an interactive session hosted by ORF.

He said if the government - led by Prime Minister Modi - is of the opinion that their version of the GST is the only version which needs to be passed, "things will not work out".

Ramesh termed Modi as one lacking the ability to listen to others' points of views while framing policies.

Comparing Modi with former prime minister Narasimha Rao, he said: "Rao and Modi are completely different characters. Modi has (an) inability to listen while Rao had the ability to listen to multiple criticisms and viewpoints."

He refered to the land acquisition bill as a case demonstrating utter lack of political communication.

"If the attitude of any prime minister is 'my way or the highway', things are not going to change," he said.