Congress accuses Center of high prices of petroleum products and other essential commodities

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INC has organized protests in all states and will now hold press conferences to send the message to the Center.

Narendra Modi’s government is directly responsible for the high prices of petroleum products and other commodities that are suffocating people already struggling with loss of income or jobs in the event of a pandemic, Congress said Tuesday.

The government and the RBI have set an inflation target of 4 (+/- 2) percent. Consumer price inflation has passed the upper limit of 6 percent and is now 6.26 percent. Food inflation is 5.58 percent, pulse inflation is 10.01 percent, fruits 11.82 percent, transportation 11.56 percent, fuel and lighting at 12.68 percent and oils 34.78 percent.

Could the government tell people what they should eat, how they should light their homes and how they should go to work? Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said at a press conference here.

Demanding an immediate and substantial reduction in oil prices, Chidambaram said: Inflation, even in normal times, would be intolerable. The present is not a normal time.

A pandemic is raging across the country. The pandemic has resulted in job losses, unemployment rate reaching 8.1% and reduced income / wages for millions of workers.

In such a situation of widespread distress, inflation has broken the backs of the people, and we hold the Narendra Modi government directly responsible.

Chidambaram said the inflation was not caused by a surge in demand. On the contrary, demand from private consumers is weak, he said.

This inflation was not caused by too much cash or too much money in the hands of the people. This inflation was caused by the government’s bad policies and inept management of the economy, he added.

Pointing out that the UPA government had kept the price of gasoline at Rs 65 per liter and diesel at Rs 44 while the international price of crude oil was $ 125 per barrel, Chidambaram said the Modi government was selling gasoline for over Rs 100 and diesel for over Rs 90 when crude was around $ 75 a barrel.

The only reason for the exorbitant prices is the levy of taxes by the government. The total taxes collected by the central government on gasoline and diesel are Rs 33 per liter and Rs 32 per liter respectively. Through these processes alone, the Center collects around Rs 4.2 lakh crore each year and keeps all this money for itself. This is exploitation and greed of the worst kind, said the veteran leader.

Congress has organized protests in all states and will now hold press conferences to send the message that the Modi government is taking advantage of the miseries of the people.

Senior leaders, including some from the 23 rebel group, were tasked with effectively communicating the message. Mallikarjun Kharge, Kamal Nath, Salman Khurshid, Anand Sharma, Digvijaya Singh, Shashi Tharoor, Shaktisinh Gohil, Ajay Maken and Manish Tewari will address media across the country.

Rahul Gandhi set the tone for the speech with a scathing tweet: Khaya bhi, mitron ko khilaya bhi bas janata ko khane nahin de rahe (Ate and fed friends without letting the audience eat).

, – # PriceHike pic.twitter.com/FLjJvn5KJ8

Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 13, 2021

The tweet appeared to be a response to Modi’s campaign slogan “Na khaoonga, na khane dunga”, in which he made a pledge of honesty.

Publishing another article suggesting that millions of poor Indians were selling family gold to survive, Rahul said, “Rain or shine, no respite from the government’s economic mess. Indian.

Chidambaram had said earlier: “A government that cares about the well-being of the people – and their hardships and burdens – will not turn the other way when all households are agitated by rising prices. The government has continued to pretend that the concern about rising prices is a false concern, and if the government ignores the problem, the problem will go away. Congress condemns cruel neglect on the issue of rising prices.

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