‘Kitchen budget completely shattered’: Jairam Ramesh targets Modi govt over rising food costs

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said the “kitchen budget has been completely shattered”, accusing the Modi government of failing to address the rising cost of essential food items and alleging that families are struggling as prices of wheat flour, pulses and cooking oil increase.

In a post on X, Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, said the government had launched what he called a “multi-pronged attack” on the common person’s kitchen. He alleged that the rise in prices had put household budgets under strain and said “crores of families” were facing distress.

“Due to the Modi government’s anti-people policies, from wheat flour and lentils to oil, the kitchen budget is continuously deteriorating, and inflation has skyrocketed,” Ramesh said.


He also accused the government of focusing on what he described as “hiding the truth” rather than addressing the concerns around prices. Ramesh alleged that the cost of the common person’s meal was rising even as the government sought to project that inflation was under control through what he called “jugglery of statistics”.

“The common person’s plate is becoming more and more expensive, but the government wants to claim that it has controlled inflation through jugglery of statistics,” he said.

Ramesh also contrasted the alleged distress among households with the performance of what he described as “a few crony capitalists”, saying they were “reveling in joy” while millions of families were struggling.

The Congress leader’s remarks also carried a political message ahead of Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa. Addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly, Ramesh said voters in these states, who he alleged were bearing the impact of rising prices, would respond during the elections.

“Modi ji, this public knows everything,” Ramesh said, adding that voters would “make you feel the pulse of wheat flour and lentils in the elections”.

The comments come amid changes to the payment ecosystem that will introduce a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on certain UPI merchant transactions from October 15. Under the revised framework announced by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), specified person-to-merchant UPI transactions above ₹2,000 will attract an MDR of 0.4%, capped at ₹300 per transaction. Consumers will not be charged the MDR directly.

The new framework is aimed at supporting investment in UPI infrastructure, innovation, cybersecurity and customer services, while low-value transactions remain outside the new MDR structure. According to NPCI-related FAQs reported by ET, transactions up to ₹2,000 will continue to remain free for users.

Ramesh’s post, however, focused primarily on the cost of essential food items and the impact he said rising prices were having on household budgets, rather than on the new UPI charges.