New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday decided to boycott the government’s special midnight June 30 meeting on GST, calling it a “grand self-promoting tamasha (gimmick)”.

The party also accused the government of “insulting” India’s freedom struggle, as the previous three midnight functions held in the central hall of Parliament were related to the country's independence. “The Congress party will not participate in the special midnight meeting on the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax,” senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

He said while the Congress party “accords a lot of importance” to the independence movement, the struggle may not be as significant for the BJP since “they had no role” in it. Azad said midnight events in Parliament had always been linked to India's Freedom - the first was in 1947 to mark India's independence, then in 1972 to commemorate its silver jubilee and in 1997 for 50 years of independence.

“The issue is that the celebrations are equated to the independence and its silver and golden jubilees. The GST session is an insult to the independence movement.,” Congress leader Anand Sharma told reporters.