Rahul Gandhi Slams Govt For Rise In Fuel Prices

FILE PHOTO: Unemployment and inflation are at their peak in the country and Narendra Modi says 'everything is fine', said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday hit out at the government over the rise in petrol prices, and said the waves of tax collection epidemic are continuously coming.

His remarks came as petrol prices in several cities crossed ₹ 100 and were nearing the mark in Delhi.

“The process of unlocking has started in many states. While paying the bill at the petrol pump, you will see the rise in inflation by the Modi government. The waves of tax collection epidemic are continuously coming,” Mr Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also termed the rise in petrol prices as an “excessive public loot” and said the Modi government is responsible for it.

“Excessive public loot – in the last 13 months, petrol and diesel have risen by ₹ 25.72 and ₹ 23.93 per litre. In some states, petrol has crossed ₹ 100 per litre. The increase in taxes by the Modi government and not high crude oil price is responsible for this rise in petrol and diesel prices,” he said on Twitter.

The Congress has been critical of the government for rising prices of petrol and diesel.

The Opposition party has also been demanding that petrol and diesel be brought under the purview of the GST regime.

The recent spate of fuel price hike began a day after assembly elections culminated in five states earlier last month. Since then, petrol price has already crossed the ₹100-mark in several cities in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

The month of May has seen one of the steepest hikes in fuel prices across India. In all, the prices of petrol and diesel were hiked 16 times in the entire month, which led the price of petrol to go up by ₹3.83 per litre, while diesel price saw an overall hike of ₹4.42 per litre.

India has already seen two fuel price hikes within the first four days this month. It is likely that the trend of spiralling fuel price will continue in coming days as well.

Price revisions are now decided by state-owned oil companies like the IOC, Bharat Petroleum (BPL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), after the government de-regulated the pricing of petrol in 2010 and of diesel in 2014. The revisions are usually based on global crude oil prices and changes in foreign exchange rates.