Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the economic crisis in India stemmed not just from the global fuel situation but also from a “leadership crisis” in the Modi government. “This crisis is a Modi government-made crisis. The common people of the country are paying the price for it from their own pockets on petrol, diesel and LPG. When diesel prices rise, it creates a cascading effect of inflation across the entire country,” he said.
Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said at a press conference that the Modi government had collected ₹43 lakh crore through taxes on petrol and diesel over the past 11 years, amounting to “₹1,000 crore a day since 2014”. Yet, he alleged, the BJP government had a pattern of increasing fuel prices on the conclusion of elections every time.
