Several opposition parties on Friday attacked the government over the hike in prices of petrol and diesel, warning that the move would worsen inflation and hamper economic growth.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, defended the hike, claiming that India managed to shield citizens from the global oil shock for more than two months while implementing only a “limited and calibrated” rise even as several countries witnessed steeper increases.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the public was paying the price for the Modi government’s “mistake” while party chief Mallikarjun Kharge slammed the government, alleging that the country was facing an economic crisis due to a “leadership crisis, lack of vision and incompetence”.
The attack came as petrol and diesel prices were hiked by ₹3 per litre each on Friday, marking the first increase in more than four years, as state-run fuel retailers passed on part of the hit from surging global crude prices triggered by the Iran war. Alongside, compressed natural gas (CNG) prices in cities like Delhi and Mumbai were raised by ₹2 per kg.
Leading the opposition attack on the government, Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X, “Galti Modi sarkaar ki, keemat janta chukayegi (The public will pay the price for the Modi government’s mistake).” “The ₹3 shock has already arrived, the rest of the ‘vasooli (recovery)’ will be done in instalments,” the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
Kharge said it was a government-made crisis, the consequences of which the people of the country were bearing.
“The people of the country must understand that, along with the international fuel crisis, the major reason for the economic crisis in India at this time is the Modi government’s leadership crisis, lack of vision, and rampant incompetence,” he alleged.
Kharge said when diesel prices rise, inflation has a cascading effect across the country, adversely affecting everyone — from industries to household budgets and farmers.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M) Polit Bureau strongly condemned the Centre for raising petrol, diesel and CNG prices, saying the hike would impose a greater burden on the people already reeling under inflation, unemployment, stagnant wages and deepening economic distress.
It demanded an immediate rollback of the increase and called upon its units to organise protests demanding withdrawal of the hike.
