Congress MP Shashi Tharoor took a jab at the government Friday, tweeting a photograph of a book on the centre's response to the Covid pandemic - with prime minister Narendra Modi on the cover – that was placed in the 'popular fiction' section of an unidentified book shop. "Check out popular fiction in India these days!" he tweeted. The book in question was 'A nation to protect: Leading India through the Covid crisis' by Priyam Gandhi-Mody.
The centre was slammed by the opposition during the first two years of the Covid pandemic, with management of health infrastructure and medical resources, collection of data on cases and deaths, and vaccine development and distribution some of the issues raised by the Congress and others.
Earlier today the Lok Sabha MP from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram also tweeted a chart comparing the prices of essential goods - like rice, atta, wheat, sugar, milk and oil - between May 2014 (under the Congress-led UPA government) and five years later, when the BJP was in power.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier today the Lok Sabha MP from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram also tweeted a chart comparing the prices of essential goods - like rice, atta, wheat, sugar, milk and oil - between May 2014 (under the Congress-led UPA government) and five years later, when the BJP was in power.
{{/usCountry}}READ: Tharoor compares commodity prices between UPA and NDA time, says…
"One more difference between the UPA era & the NDA: you feel it daily!" he said, adding the hashtag #inflation. The chart indicated prices of packed palm oil and vanaspati had surged by over 100 per cent each between 2014 and 2019. That of soya oil and sunflower oil had increased by over 95 per cent each, and that of tomatoes, groundnut oil, and dal had jumped by over 50 per cent each.
The price of basic commodities and fuel have skyrocketed over the past few months, with Russia's war on Ukraine triggering shortages of key products like wheat, cooking oil and crude oil.
Prices of LPG (liquified petroleum gas) cylinders used by crores of Indian households to cook food have also spiked; this week they crossed the ₹1,000-mark in several major cities.
READ: Domestic LPG prices hiked again, crosses ₹1,000-mark in Delhi
Wholesale inflation in India touched 15.08 per cent in April - the highest in 27 years - driven upwards largely by power and fuel prices and affected by the conflict in Ukraine. A few days earlier retail inflation in April was 7.79 per cent, the highest in precisely eight years.
READ: WPI inflation at record high of 15.08% in April
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked 14 times March 22-April 6.
The government has blamed the war in Ukraine, particularly for the sharp increase in fuel prices.
Tharoor wasn't the only Congress leader to hit out at the government on this topic; Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday compared the price rise in India to crisis-hit Sri Lanka; 'looks a lot like Sri Lanka', he said sharing graphs of rising petrol prices, unemployment and communal violence in the two nations.
READ: 'Looks a lot like Sri Lanka': Rahul Gandhi's swipe over price rise
"Distracting people won't change the facts…" Rahul Gandhi said.