A viral video, in which a popular hotelier of Tamil Nadu apologises to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for raising the issue of rationalising Goods and Services Tax (GST) before her at a business forum in Coimbatore, had created a political storm with parties across the spectrum castigating the BJP and the Finance Minister.

The political storm is over the apology, the video of which was leaked on social media, and leading the charge against Sitharaman is Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who slammed her for humiliating the hotelier. Others have followed suit, with DMK MP, Kanimozhi, demanding an apology from Sitharaman.

“When the owner of a small business like Annapoorna Restaurant in Coimbatore, asks our public servants for a simplified GST regime, his request is met with arrogance and disrespect. Yet, when a billionaire friend seeks to bend the rules, change the law, or acquire national assets, Modi Ji rolls out the red carpet,” Rahul said in a post on ‘X’.

The last thing that small business owners get is further humiliation, the Congress scion said adding “When the fragile egos of those in power are hurt, it seems humiliation is exactly what they will deliver…If this arrogant government would listen to the people they would understand that a simplified GST with a single tax rate would solve the problems of lakhs of business.”

It all started at the business forum presided by Sitharaman on Wednesday when Srinivasan, pleading for rationalising the GST, said “Bun and bread have no GST, but there is 18% on the cream. Customers tell us to give bun and jam separately. In Tamil Nadu, it is Sweet, Karam (hot snacks) and Coffee. While sweets and food have 5%, it is 12 % for hot snacks. When a family comes, even the computer gets confused to bill the different rates. Even your party legislator Vanathi Srinivasan is a customer and she too has questioned it. If you increase the GST, let it be uniform across all things. It has become very difficult to run the business madam so please rationalise the GST.”

He also recalled Vanathi Srinivasan having told him that sweets are taxed less because they were consumed more in the north than in the south.

His request made in his inimitable Coimbatore slang, has set the internet on fire. He is the chairman of the famed Annapoorna chain of hotels, which has become a part of the identity of the textile city. But, apologising to the finance minister in the presence of Vanathi Srinivasan, in the leaked video had put the saffron party in a corner.

“I do not belong to any political party. My speech had been misunderstood. Please pardon me,” the hotelier is hard as saying. Clarifying about it, Vanathi Srinivasan, also BJP Mahila Morcha national president, said, “It was Srinivasan who had sought an appointment. Apologising, he said that his family has roots in the RSS.

While she maintained that the video was not taken by the BJP, the party’s state president K Annamalai, currently in the UK on a study fellowship has apologised for the leak, accepting the blame. “On behalf of @BJP4TamilNadu, I sincerely apologise for the actions of our functionaries who shared a private conversation between a respected business owner and our Hon. FM,” he said on ‘X’.

Disclosing that he had spoken with Srinivasan, he hailed him as a pillar of Tamil Nadu’s business community and who had contributed significantly to the economic growth of the state and the country.

The AIADMK has termed the apology as an instance of the BJP’s arrogance. The CPI, CPI (M), VCK, and the Congress have targeted the Finance Minister. The Congress has announced to hold a protest in front of Annapoorna Hotel in Coimbatore, demanding Sitharaman’s apology.