A video of a prominent restaurateur from Tamil Nadu apologising to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman for his complaints about the Goods and Services Tax at a public event in Coimbatore has drawn criticism from the Opposition.

In the video, shared online by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Tamil Nadu unit, the managing director of the Annapoorna chain of restaurants, can be heard apologising to Sitharaman for the comments he had made about the indirect tax regime.

“Please pardon me for my comments,” Srinivas, who is also head of the Annapoorna chain of restaurants in the state, is heard saying in the video. “I do not belong to any political party.”

Srinivasan is also the president of the Tamil Nadu Hotel Owners’ Association.

On Wednesday, the businessman reportedly told the finance minister during a public meeting: “The problem is that GST is applied differently to each item. For example, there is no GST on bun. If you put cream in it, GST becomes 18%. Because of this, customers ask we give bun and cream separately and they will apply cream on the bun themselves to save money.”

Srinivasan also said: “People say that the finance ministry has put 5% GST on sweets and 12% on namkeen because people eat a lot of sweets in North India. In Tamil Nadu, sweet, namkeen and coffee go together. Please charge uniform GST for these. The computer itself is getting stuck because of this GST confusion.”

Congress leader Supriya Shrinate claimed that while the finance minister laughed off the comments in public, Srinivasan “was later made to apologise to her in person”.

“His apology was surreptitiously recorded and shared by BJP’s official handle,” Shrinate alleged. “This is the height of arrogance where a businessman can’t even voice his concern.”

K Annamalai, the BJP’s Tamil Nadu chief, apologised for his party workers having shared the video of the private conversation.

“Annapoorna Srinivasan Anna is a pillar of Tamil Nadu’s business community, contributing significantly to the state’s and nation’s economic growth,” Annamalai said. “I request everyone to lay the matter to rest with due respect.”

Amid the controversy, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi had accused Sitharaman of showing “outright disrespect” to Srinivasan.

“Yet, when a billionaire friend seeks to bend the rules, change the laws, or acquire national assets, Modi ji rolls out the red carpet,” Gandhi said on social media. “Our small business owners have already endured the blows of demonetisation, an inaccessible banking system, tax extortion and a disastrous GST.”

Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam described the alleged action as a “shocking display of arrogance” by Sitharaman.

“A respected businessman…humbly questioned GST complexities, but Hon’ble finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, instead of addressing the issue, forced him to apologise,” the party claimed in a statement. “This is nothing but fascism at play! When did asking for better policies become a crime? The BJP continues to silence voices of reason with intimidation.”

Party leader Kanimozhi said that the Centre and “Union ministers should not spoil the self-esteem of Tamils”.

Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan can also be seen in the video. Vanathi is a member of the BJP.

Vanathi told The News Minute that Srinivasan apologised “voluntarily”.