Sonia Gandhi Targets Modi Government over Inflation, says it denies seriousness of Price Rise

New Delhi: On Wednesday Congress president Sonia Gandhi slammed the Modi government during the general body meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP). She slammed the government over price rise and the country’s economic situation.

During the speech, she said, “I cannot understand how and why the Narendra Modi government is so insensitive and continues to deny the seriousness of the problem of price rise. It seems impervious to the suffering of the people.”

Gandhi also claimed that country’s economy had lost its momentum before Covid 19 pandemic hit India. “The pandemic accelerated this loss. But thanks to the government’s half-hearted and ill-advised responses, the situation has become even more serious,” she said.

To provide relief to the public, the government recently lowered excise rates on petrol and diesel, while some state governments also announced additional price cuts.

Gandhi called the Centre’s excise rate cut on fuel “totally insufficient and inadequate”.She said, “As usual, the government has passed the responsibility for duty cuts to financially strapped state governments when it has far greater room for action.”

Referring to the ongoing Central Vista Project Gandhi said, “And all this while, the Centre persists with huge public expenditure on vain, glorious projects.”The Opposition had earlier demanded that the Central Vista redevelopment must stop and the funds should to diverted for health infrastructure and other social welfare expenses.

Demanding a debate in Parliament over price rise, Gandhi said, “The prices of edible oils, pulses, and vegetables are burning a hole in the monthly budget of every household. The rising prices of cement, steel, and other basic industrial commodities also do not bode well for economic recovery.”

Sonia Gandhi questioned the government’s claims of economic recovery, saying, “But recovery for whom is the real question?”

Alleging that the government is working only for a chosen few, Gandhi said, “It means nothing to those millions who have lost their livelihoods, and to those MSMEs whose businesses have been crippled – not just by the Covid-19 pandemic, but also by the combined effects of note bandi (demonetization) and the hasty implementation of a flawed GST.”