Cong asks Centre what it was doing to rein in inflation

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday slammed the Union government over the inflation issue and asked what it was doing to bring down the prices of essential commodities which were grinding the households of common people.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said while the rate of inflation was 6.95 per cent, the interest rate of fixed deposits in banks was only 5 per cent.

“Forget depositing Rs 15 lakh to your bank accounts, PM Modi’s ‘masterstrokes’ have demolished your hard-earned savings,” he said on Twitter.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said that whenever the party raised the issue of rising prices, the debate got centred around petrol. diesel and LPG, but the reality was that Consumer Price Inflation Index has seen a higher percentage rise than petrol.

She claimed that 235 out of 299 things on that list, that included that includes poultry, fish, milk, ghee, basic flour ‘Atta’, edible oil, pulses, onion, brinjal and many other vegetables, have seen a higher percentage price rise than petrol in the last eight years.

Shrinate also claimed that the cost of getting treatment in a hospital has gone up 71 per cent while medicines, eating out, tuition fees and house rents have all seen a steep price rise than even fuel prices.

“We have two questions to raise before the government. What is the government’s strategy to rein in inflation? This price rise has come at a time when 84 per cent of people have seen their incomes erode and 15 crore of the poorest households have seen their incomes half due to this government,” she said.

“We demand that the government cuts the prices of diesel, petrol and LPG sharply which will have a cascading effect on most of these things. It is high time that instead of distracting and shifting the blame, the government must present a white paper on high prices and the economy,” Shrinate said.