The much-awaited GST launch took place at the stroke of midnight in the Central Hall of the Parliament with the symbolic sounding of a gong. The launch took place in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee. During the event, Prime Minister called the GST a ‘good and simple tax’ which will end harassment of traders and small businesses while integrating India into one market with one tax rate. He added that GST is an example of cooperative federalism as the Centre and states together thrashed out the new law through consensus.

Meanwhile, President Pranab Mukherjee said GST implementation shows the maturity and wisdom of India’s democracy. “The new era in taxation, which we are about to initiate in a few minutes, is the result of a broad consensus arrived at between the Centre and states,” Mukherjee said. He added that it is a disruptive change. “It is also a moment of some satisfaction for me because, as the Finance Minister, I had introduced the Constitution Amendment Bill on March 22, 2011,” he added.

Here are some Twitter reactions on GST launch:

Apart from the Prime Minister and President, the event was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Vice-President Hamid Ansari and many other political leaders. However, Congress along with TMC and RJD boycotted the event and didn’t attend it.