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Shashi Tharoor on rupee at 80 per dollar: 'Strong govt giving us weaker rupee'
The remark came hours after opposition leaders staged protest in parliament against inflation.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday took a sharp swipe at the government hours after the rupee hit a new record low to more than 80 per US dollar for the first time. This comes as several countries across the world battle inflation, partly fueled by the war in Ukraine that is set to enter its sixth month. The conflict has hit global fuel and food supply chains.
"Rupee has crossed ₹80. Modi Ji is the one who made it an election issue in 2014. He was going to strengthen the rupee when he came because it shows a weak government, therefore a weak rupee... but then what is the strong government giving us? Even a weaker rupee,” the Congress MP was quoted as saying by news agency ANI, targeting the prime minister.
“When Modi Ji came to power, the rupee was 50 something, now it's 80. Where is the question of responsibility? Everything you import is costing more because rupee has gone down, fuel prices up, price rise is high and imposition of GST is an extra burden on the common man,” he added.
His remarks came soon after he, along with other opposition MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest at parliament against inflation as the monsoon session entered the second day.
Tharoor also shared a picture on Twitter, and wrote: “Joined the Opposition protest in front of Parliament this morning. It is truly outrageous that at a time when prices are spiralling upwards, the rupee is collapsing & people’s salaries are feeling the pinch, the Govt increases GST across the board on items of common consumption! (sic)”.
The rupee hit 80.0600 against the greenback soon after trading started, compared with the previous close of 79.9775, as per the Bloomberg data. High inflation and rising interest rates in the United States - along with fears of an impending recession in the world's biggest economy - are said to have fuelled a broad dollar rally. The US consumer price inflation hit a fresh four-decade high in June, data released last week revealed.
On Monday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman attributed the rupee's sharp fall to external reasons. "Global factors such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, soaring crude oil prices and tightening of global financial conditions are the major reasons for the weakening of the Indian Rupee against the US dollar," she said.
At the same time, the Indian currency has strengthened against the British pound, the Japanese yen and the euro in 2022 so far, she added.
(With inputs from ANI, AFP)
