Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that runaway inflation has created a situation of ‘financial emergency,’ while the former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram cautioned the government that the youth and students could explode in anger if unemployment rises and incomes decline.
The Congress also demanded that Mr. Modi convene a meeting of all Opposition parties and share his government’s roadmap to tackle inflation in the next 30 days.
“The circle of incompetent management is complete. Mr. Narendra Modi’s government started in July 2014 with CPI inflation at 7.39 per cent. In December 2019, it was 7.35 per cent. Food inflation stands at 14.12 per cent. Vegetable prices are up 60 per cent. Onion prices are over ₹100 per kg. This is the ‘achhe din’ promised by the BJP,” Mr. Chidambaram said in a series of tweets.
“The nation is engrossed with the anti-CAA, anti-NPR protests. Both present a clear and present danger. The sliding economy is an even greater threat to the country. If unemployment rises and incomes decline, there is the danger of youth and students exploding in anger,” he added.
Mr Gandhi accused the Prime Minister of ‘snatching’ away the poor’s bread and breaking their budget into pieces.
“Back-breaking inflation, life-threatening unemployment and falling GDP have created a state of ‘financial emergency.’ Rise in prices of vegetables, pulses, edible oil and LPG gas has snatched away the poor’s bread and butter. Modi ji has broken the domestic budgets of countrymen into pieces,” he said.
Addressing a press conference on inflation, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused Mr. Modi of indulging in politics of hatred and division and asked him to focus on the development of the country. “We demand that the PM should come forward and convene a meeting of all parties and present a roadmap for tackling prices of essential commodities in the next 30 days,” he said.
Data showed that retail inflation rose to about a five-and-half-year high of 7.35 per cent in December 2019, mainly due to spiralling prices of vegetables, as onions were selling at rates way above normal.
