Chairperson of the Congress Party Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the rising fuel prices, which increased for 12 days straight till February 20.
On February 21, in her letter addressed to the Prime Minister, she urged him to "reduce the fuel prices by partially rolling back excise duty".
Addressing the rising rates of LPG gas cylinders as well, she said there could be no justification for the government to increase the price of an LPG cylinder by Rs 175 in just two and half months since December 2020.
In many parts of the country petrol has breached the Rs 100/liter mark and what's baffling is that the rise has happened despite moderate prices of international crude oil.
Gandhi explained that any reduction in international crude oil prices should ultimately benefit the end consumer. But the fact that the total opposite is happening, Gandhi said, showed government's intention to "profiteer off people's misery".
"I fail to understand how any government can justify such thoughtlessness and insensitive measures directly at the cost of our people. Your Government has increased excise duty on diesel by 820 percent and on petrol by 258 percent over and collected upwards of Rs 21 lakh crore in the last six and a half years. This unaccounted for windfall is yet to be passed to the people for whose benefit it was ostensibly collected," read her letter.
Gandhi said this excessive excise duty - Rs 33 on every liter of petrol and Rs 32 on every liter of diesel - was "nothing short of extortion to cover up economic mismanagement".
Also Read: Centre, states must talk to bring down retail fuel price: FM Nirmala Sitharaman
She also gave a befitting reply to PM Modi's statement a few days ago, saying domestic crude oil production has fallen to an 18-year-low in 2020. The Congress President said she finds it extremely distressing that even after being in power for 7 years straight, the Modi government blames the previous government for their own economic mismanagement. "To put it in context, the crude oil prices are nearly half of what it was during the UPA government's tenure," she said.
On February 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the middle-class would not have been burdened if the previous governments had focussed on reducing India's dependence on energy imports.
"I urge you to roll back these increases and pass on the benefit to our middle and salaried class, our farmers and poor and our fellow citizens," she ended her letter as saying.
Last week, the Congress protested against the fuel price hike in the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The members of the Indian Youth Congress also staged a shirtless agitation where they were seen cooking food on a traditional firewood stove. Senior leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have also condemned the hike.
Also Read: 5 things to know about the ‘out of control’ fuel price rise in India
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