Fact Check: No, Bengal government is not paying GST for Muslim traders

India Today's Anti Fake News War Room has found that the news shared in the screenshot is not at all true. The West Bengal government has not announced any such decision.

A few days after West Bengal minister Chandrima Bhattacharya was handed over the key responsibility of the finance department, she presented her debut budget at the state assembly on Friday, March 11. Meanwhile, a screenshot has gone viral on social media claiming that the West Bengal government has waived off the GST for the Muslim traders of the state.

Social media users on Facebook and Twitter have shared a Hindi screenshot that read, “GST waived off for the Muslim traders. Mamata government will pay their GST.”

The text further read, “Mamata Banerjee-led government of West Bengal has made a big decision. According to the Mamata government, the trade of Muslims was hurt by the introduction of the GST. That is why her government will pay all the due taxes of the Muslim businessmen. This means their taxes have been waived. The population of the Muslim community in Bengal has reached 35%. In such a situation, control of forming or dissolving any government is in their hands. This particular decision of the Mamata-led government proves that Bengal has indeed become an Islamic state.”

GST __ pic.twitter.com/Ugo6brVhoo

Archived versions of the posts can be seen here and here.

India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the screenshot's content is not at all true. The West Bengal government has neither taken nor announced any such decision.

With the help of a few relevant keywords, we tried to find any reports regarding the same. But there were no media reports that supported the claim. It is unlikely that such a major decision by the state government would go unreported by news outlets.