Rubbing salt into wound: Cong slams govt over excise duty hike on petrol, diesel

Mallikarjun Kharge

The Congress lashed out at the government on Monday over the hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel, saying it "must not have been satisfied" with the losses due to the stock market slump that it was rubbing salt into the wounds of people.

The government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre each. The excise duty on petrol was hiked to Rs 13 per litre and that on diesel to Rs 10 a litre.

In a post in Hindi on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Vaah Modi Ji Vaah!! The international crude oil prices have fallen by 41 per cent as compared to May 2014, but your plundering government, instead of reducing the prices of petrol and diesel, has increased the Central Excise Duty by Rs 2 each." "You must not have been satisfied after the small and big investors in the stock market lost Rs 19 lakh crores in one go due to the deep 'Kumbhakaran-like' sleep on the tariff policy, that your government has come to rub salt into the wounds!" he said.

While any change in taxes is normally passed on to consumers, there will be no change in retail selling price of petrol and diesel as the excise hike will be set off against the reduction in retail prices that was warranted from fall in international oil prices.

"PSU Oil Marketing Companies have informed that there will be no increase in retail prices of petrol and diesel, subsequent to the increase effected in Excise Duty Rates today," the oil ministry said in a post on X.

International oil prices have slumped to their lowest since April 2021 as escalating trade tensions between the United States and China stoked fears of a recession that could cut oil demand.