The opposition on Sunday mounted a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he urged citizens to reduce fuel consumption and adopt austerity measures amid the ongoing West Asia crisis and the impact
of the Iran-US conflict on global supply chains and fuel prices.
Leading the attack, Rahul Gandhi, in an X post, wrote, “Modi ji demanded sacrifices from the public yesterday – don’t buy gold, don’t go abroad, use less petrol, cut down on fertilizer and cooking oil, take the metro, work from home. These aren’t sermons – these are proofs of failure.”
“In 12 years, he’s brought the country to such a pass that the public has to be told – what to buy, what not to buy, where to go, where not to go. Every time, they shift the responsibility onto the people so they can escape accountability themselves. Running the country is no longer within the reach of a Compromised PM,” he wrote.
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal also accused the Prime Minister of failing to ensure India’s energy security even “three months into the Iran-US war” and demanded that the government immediately make arrangements to protect citizens from hardship arising out of the crisis.
In a post on X, Venugopal wrote, “3 months into the Iran-US war and PM Modi is still clueless about ensuring India’s energy security.”
“It is shameless, reckless and downright immoral that the PM is pushing the common citizen into inconvenience, instead of building contingencies to ensure our economy is unaffected by this global crisis,” he added.
The Congress leader further alleged that the Prime Minister was prioritising “elections and petty politics” over governance and economic preparedness.
“When elections and petty politics are the sole priority of the PM, the end result is an impending economic catastrophe,” Venugopal said.
Demanding immediate action from the Centre, he added, “The PM and his government must make all necessary arrangements to ensure we have ample fuel reserves and no citizen faces any hardship as a result of their lack of planning.”
Venugopal’s remarks came after PM Modi, while addressing a BJP rally in Hyderabad, appealed to people to reduce petrol and diesel consumption, postpone foreign travel and gold purchases, and revive practices such as work-from-home and virtual meetings to save foreign exchange amid the West Asia conflict.
KARTI CHIDAMBARAM SEEKS PARLIAMENT SESSION
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram also questioned the seriousness of the government’s situation assessment and demanded that Parliament be convened immediately to brief the country.
“These are very serious ‘directives’ from the PMOIndia, what are the triggers for this?” Chidambaram wrote on X.
“The Government must convene Parliament immediately & take the nation into confidence & inform us about the true state of affairs which has necessitated these ‘appeals’,” he added.
SAMAJWADI PARTY TARGETS PM MODI’S POLITICAL EVENTS
Samajwadi Party leader IP Singh also attacked the Prime Minister over his remarks, alleging that ordinary citizens were being asked to save fuel while massive resources were allegedly being spent on political rallies and roadshows.
“The people of the country have to save petrol and diesel to give to Modi ji for his rally road shows and big events,” Singh wrote in his X post.
He further claimed that “10-15 thousand security personnel are deployed, thousands of teachers and employees are brought in by 3-4 thousand buses.”
“It costs 80-100 crore rupees at a time,” Singh alleged.
“They talk about Lal Bahadur Shastri. For 15 days a month, Modi ji’s event shows run,” he added.
WHAT PM MODI SAID IN HYDERABAD
Addressing a rally organised by the Telangana BJP in Hyderabad, PM Modi said the Centre was trying to shield citizens from the adverse impact of the West Asia conflict and urged people to participate in what he described as a collective effort for economic resilience.
PM Modi said rising pressure on global supply chains due to the conflict had increased the prices of petrol and fertilisers despite various efforts by the government to tackle the situation.
“That’s why, during the global crisis, keeping the country above all else, we have to take resolutions,” the Prime Minister said.
He urged citizens to use metro rail services wherever available, adopt carpooling, increase the use of electric vehicles, use railway services for parcel transport and reduce petrol and diesel consumption.
“We have to save foreign exchange by any means,” he said while also calling for postponing foreign travel and gold purchases for one year.
PM Modi further said that the work-from-home systems adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic should be revived wherever possible.
“We got into work-from-home, virtual meetings, video conferencing and many other methods during Covid. We got habituated to them. The need of the hour is to resume those methods,” he said.
He also called for reducing edible oil consumption, lowering dependence on chemical fertilisers and promoting natural farming and swadeshi products in an effort to conserve foreign exchange and strengthen self-reliance.
The BJP, meanwhile, has projected PM Modi’s appeal as part of a larger national effort to deal with the economic impact of international conflicts and disruptions in global supply chains.
