The women's wing of the NCP on Thursday held a protest outside the Sales Tax office in south Mumbai demanding exclusion of sanitary napkins from the GST ambit. NCP's women wing president Supriya Sule, who led the protest march outside the office in Mazgaon area, alleged that the government was insensitive towards the issues concerning women and is "snatching away their basic rights".

"We met GST Commissioner Parag Jain and demanded that the tax be abolished on sanitary pads," said Sule, the MP daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar. She said Swachh Bharat Abhiyan would end up as a "farce" if GST is not abolished on sanitary pads. Stressing that sanitary napkin is the necessity of every woman, Sule called all women to unite and "pressurise" the government to make the pads tax-free.

Similar protests were held in different parts of the state by the women cell members of the NCP. Sanitary napkins currently attract 12 per cent GST.