Congress blames BJP govt's policies for price rise

The Congress party has blamed the BJP-led central government for the price rise during Monday's Lok Sabha session, claiming that its policies had severely affected 25 crore households nationwide and exacerbated the gap between the rich and the poor.

Manish Tewari, the Congress member charged that the Union government's bad policies had destroyed the five pillars of the economy which are savings, investment, production, consumption, and employment.

"During the UPA regime, 27 crore people were brought above the poverty line. Then it was learnt from a report, which was made public in 2021, that as many as 23 crore people are once again below the poverty line, " he said.


According to Tewari, the number of billionaires in India rose from 100 to 142 during this time, but the income of those in the lowest strata has been falling steadily.

He said it is "unfortunate" that 7% of the nation's wealth is held by 1% of the population and that the combined fortune of India's 92 richest people is equivalent to that of 55 crore Indians.

"There can't be bigger inequality than this in our country," he added.

He alleged that despite the COVID-19 pandemic being a factor resulting in the current economic condition, the country's economy had already begun to deteriorate as a result of the government's decision to demonetize high-value currency notes on November 8, 2016.

Tewari highlighted that after the note ban, the government brought in GST implementation which hit at least 2.30 lakh small industries.

"This note ban and GST not just impacted medium and small scale industries but employment also," he charged.

“To join the league of the developed countries, about two third of a country's eligible population should have employment. But, in India, just about 40 crore people have jobs today," Tewari said.

“To become a developed country, the number of people employed in the country has to increase to 84 crore. "But this government, unfortunately, doesn't have any strategy for this," he added.

"You have increased the GST on flour, curd, paneer, pencil and sharpener. You did not spare even children," Tewari criticised the administration for raising the GST.

The Congress leader said that he is “hurt'' by the 18% GST levied on "crematoriums".

When criticising the government for the increase in fuel prices, Tewari claimed that the Centre had taken in Rs. 27 lakh crore through "tax, excise duty, and dividend" in the petroleum sector to fill its coffers but had not distributed the advantages to the general public.

"The government may have streamlined its own budget, but has completely spoiled the life of the country's 25 crore households, every homemaker is in tears," he said.

Earlier, opposition parties had stalled the Parliament proceedings for days demanding a debate on price rise.