Sonia slams NDA govt for ‘extortion’
nNEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday accused the central government of “setting a new example” in extorting the common people with its “unjustified” and “insensitive” increase in fuel prices. Citing an increase in fuel prices 22 times in the last three months, Gandhi also demanded an immediate rollback of the hike.
In her video message while participating in the party’s “Speak Up Against Fuel Hike” campaign — as a part of the Congress’ nationwide agitation against the continuous increase in petrol and diesel prices — she said the hike directly hurts farmers, the poor, the working class, the middle class and the small businesses.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, for its part, has said that the revenue had been used for welfare schemes for the poor, and alleged that during Congress rule, it was used for personal benefit.
The Congress president said that at a time of a crisis, the government’s duty was to help people and not make profits. “It has set a new example of extortion from people through this unjustivadra fied increase in petrol and diesel prices. This is not only unjust but also insensitive,” she added.
Gandhi accused the Narendra Modi government of “collecting lakhs of crores” by raising excise duty on petrol and diesel in the last three months. “All this is happening at a time when the international crude oil prices are continuously falling.” She added that since 2014, instead of giving relief of the falling international crude oil prices, the Modi government had raised the excise duty 12 times, which helped it collect a revenue of nearly ₹18 lakh crore.
The Congress chief demanded that the Modi government
“immediately roll back” the increase in prices of petrol and diesel. “I also urge them to roll back the rise in excise duty on petrol and diesel since March this year and give this benefit to the countrymen. This will be a big relief in this period of economic crisis,” she added.
As a part of the week-long agitation, Congress leaders such as KC Venugopal and Manickam Tagore were seen riding cycles to Parliament, while Youth Congress chief Srinivas BV pulled a bullock cart to protest the fuel rate hikes. Former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders and workers also participated in the campaign on social media, urging the people to join the party in putting pressure on the government to reduce fuel prices.
Countering the charges, union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the money collected was used for welfare measures and not for personal benefits as had allegedly happened during the Congress rule. “I once again reiterate to Madam Sonia Gandhi ji that Modi ji has transferred more than ₹65,000 crore to 42 crore people in the last 3 months,” he said.
“Unlike Congress’ legacy of transferring money into the accounts of middlemen, ‘National Daamad’, ‘The Family’ and Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Modi ji’s DBT is about putting money in the hands of the poor, farmers, migrant workforce and women,” alleged Pradhan.
In his video message, Rahul Gandhi asked the government to stop profiteering from the fuel hikes. “The affect of rise in diesel and petrol prices are two-fold. One is that you pay directly and the other, indirectly, due to rise in prices of consumer products, including essential items,” he added.