The Congress party on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of prioritizing efforts to showcase low inflation figures over addressing the rising cost of living faced by the common people. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh criticized the government for what he termed “Modi-made inflation,” attributing the economic challenges to poor policymaking over the past decade.
Ramesh alleged that the government is attempting to manipulate key economic indices, including the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI), to create the impression that inflation is under control. However, he argued, the reality for ordinary citizens is starkly different, with escalating prices of food, fuel, and essential items placing immense pressure on middle- and working-class families.
He highlighted that while crude oil prices have declined in global markets, petrol and diesel prices in India remain high, pushing up transportation costs and making daily necessities more expensive. Food inflation, Ramesh added, remains a persistent issue, with the government allegedly planning to reduce the weightage of food items in the CPI to mask the real impact of price hikes.
“This attempted change in the CPI weightage is not only dishonest but will also adversely impact the incomes of 3–4 crore government and semi-government employees who depend on dearness allowance adjustments,” Ramesh stated.
The Congress leader also claimed that salary increments and dearness allowance growth under the BJP government have lagged behind the levels seen during the UPA government, and the situation is set to worsen.
He further accused the government of “data jugglery” in areas like GDP growth, employment, and poverty reduction, stating that statistical benchmarks have been manipulated to project favorable outcomes. Ramesh noted that the government shifted the GDP base year to inflate growth figures and altered employment definitions to include self-employed individuals and temporary job holders under the employed category.
“EPFO data has been used to falsely claim job growth, though it only measures enrolments. Similarly, the government replaced a transparent poverty line with a multi-dimensional poverty index, creating misleading narratives about poverty reduction,” he said.
On fuel pricing, Ramesh alleged that despite falling international crude oil prices, the government increased petrol, diesel, and LPG prices while removing comparative data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) website to evade public scrutiny. He also accused the government of extorting ₹36 lakh crore from citizens through fuel taxes while allowing record profits for oil and gas companies.
The Congress called for greater transparency and accountability in the government’s economic policies, asserting that its actions have exacerbated the economic burden on the poor and middle class.