Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien was backed by most Opposition parties, including the BJD and the BSP, in the Rajya Sabha on Monday as he urged the government to reduce 18 per cent GST on health insurance policies.

During Zero Hour, O’Brien said 18 per cent GST on medical insurance would put a heavy burden on the middle class. He said finance minister Nirmala Sithraman’s argument that the GST council could only decide on the issue was flawed as two-thirds of the council members were from NDA-ruled states.

Besides the INDIA bloc parties, leaders of the BJD and the BSP supported O’Brien.

The Trinamool leader pointed out that insurance penetration in India was low at 4 per cent compared with more than 7 per cent globally.

“Also, there is an imbalance in the insurance sector. Seventy-five per cent of insurance policies in India are in the life insurance segment while only 25 per cent are medical insurance policies,” he said.

O’Brien said two Trinamool MPs — Saket Gokhale and Dola Sen — had already raised the GST issue in the Upper House. Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has also written to Sitharaman to reduce the GST.

“They do not listen to us. When we write, the finance minister will say ‘I cannot do anything as the GST council will change it’. That is a flawed argument. The ratio in the GST council is NDA two and INDIA parties and everybody else is one. The GST council, as said by the Supreme Court, is an advisory body. We must not allow the finance minister to hide behind the curtain of the GST council,” he said.

O’Brien requested Sitharaman to accept the demand and make a statement in Parliament in the next three to four days.

The Opposition parties are likely to protest outside Makkar Dwar in Parliament on Tuesday against the high GST on medical insurance.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the GST rate on health insurance had been 18 per cent since the inception of the tax. However, certain insurance schemes catering to the poor and the differently abled were exempt from GST.