'Mehangaai Man' Modi: Congress lambasts Centre for price hike on essential goods

The Congress attack on the Government comes amidst the price hike of essential food items and the rising unemployment ratio in the country.  The Congress on Tuesday launched an attack on the Centre over rising prices of essential commodities, and demanded a remission on GST to provide financial help to the unemployed sections of the society.

Addressing a press conference at the headquarters, the Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate opined that “the prices of vegetables are soaring in the country. Lemon, green chillies and ginger are being sold for Rs 400 per kg, while coriander goes for Rs 200 per kg, tomatoes for Rs 160 per kg and garlic for Rs 130 per kg.”. She further added: “All these can be gifted during the wedding season, we had read and heard about Super Man and Spider-Man and now we have a ‘Mehangai Man’ in India and his name is (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi.”

According to the words of Shrinate, tomatoes, which were earlier sold at Rs. 10-15 per kg, are now being priced at Rs. 130-160 per kg. She further mentioned that not only tomatoes, but all other essential vegetables have met the same fate. 

Shrinate tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “Mehangaai Man” and demanded immediate steps to track down the price hike. The sarcastic Shrinate narrated the story of a “King” who used to mislead his people of rising prices of essential items. Shrinate added, “ The king whose name is ‘Mehangaai Man’ is Narendra Modi. Does the government care? Does the man who has brought the onslaught of rising prices care? Is the government taking any steps to reverse the situation, is the government doing anything possible within its rights to bring people relief? I think the answer to all of that is a big ‘no’,”. 

Referring to the ever increasing unemployment ratio in India, Supriya Shrinate alleged the Centre of continuously ignoring the red flags! According to her speech, We expect the government to stop profiteering through taxes…and people who are really reeling under price rise be given some fiscal help”. Shrinate is of the view that the Central Government is now busy in earning profits from the inflation, instead of providing relief to the needy from the inflation rates! 

If the government wants, it can reduce the prices immediately. Reduce excise duty, it’ll reduce prices of diesel, therefore transportation and vegetable prices will come down. Why is the government not doing it? Because it is busy making profits,” the Congress alleged. 

Congress promoting itself ahead of polls? 

The Congress has launched a full blow at the Bharatiya Janata Party over the price hike . Shrinate said: “Look at Congress governments. Our Congress government in Rajasthan is committed to bringing relief. We are giving cylinders for Rs. 500. Our government in Karnataka has made bus services free. That has left additional money in the hands of women,” . 

In view of the rising prices in India, the party urged the Centre to roll out monetary aid to the poor and the marginalised sections of the society. Shrinate further demanded a remission in the GST from essential everyday items such as flour and yogurt. The Congress spokesperson added that the government must reduce diesel prices to cut down transportation costs, which will further reduce the prices of vegetables. 

There are many who think that all this clamour is just propaganda of the Congress to promote itself ahead of the elections? "Does the Congress really care about the nation and it’s people? Have it’s policies really benefitted the Indian people?" people ask. 

As per recent reports, the Congress policy of making bus services free in Karnataka has invited another grim problem! Several auto drivers have complained that due to this new policy of the Congress, their daily earnings have touched the bottom line, as people are now solely dependent on buses for transportation! 

https://twitter.com/INCIndia/status/1676246989825273856?s=20

Rising inflation: What it means to the common man

This is not the first time that the Congress has charged PM Narendra Modi with pushing up prices. Earlier this year, Supriya Shrinate blamed the Centre of “economic mismanagement“, and demanded a white paper on the economy. Shrinate said: “After ruining India’s economic growth story, creating huge unemployment, raging inflation, Modi has done the unthinkable, which is an addition of over Rs 100 lakh crore to India’s debt, which is at an alarming level,”. 

But, who are benefitting from this high debt rise in India? How does this rising debt affecting the poor and the middle class?

According to reports, 23 crore people have been pushed below the poverty line, 83 percent Indians have seen their incomes dip, over 11,000 MSMEs have shut down in a single year. If we follow the recent reports deeply, we would derive a conclusion that while the poor are getting poorer each day, the rich are only getting richer. The bottom 50℅ of India’s population, who hold only three percent of the nation’s wealth, are paying approximately 64℅ of the total GST collected, while the rich who comprise 80℅ of the nation’s richness, are paying only 3-4℅ of the total collected GST.  

The ever-increasing inflation in the country has put an additional stress on the citizens. With a price hike on essential items and increasing fuel prices, the consumerist Indian citizens are losing it all. People are now struggling to afford even basic items with minimum wages. 

Will India be able to counter rising inflation?

With India and the world just healing from the havoc caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukrainian conflict has significantly raised an alarm among the economists! With the war breaking out, the global supply chain has broken down, significantly pushing up prices of crude oil. This has further added to the transportation costs, ultimately raising the price tags of the daily essential items. This hike in prices have pushed producer companies to increase prices of their goods, which have now caused an additional stress to the common man. To add to the issue, healthcare has now become expensive. With pharmaceutical companies raising their prices for essential medicines such as painkillers and antibiotics, consumers in India will find it hard to keep up with their monthly budgets. 

Shift focus from the middle income groups and stress on the poor sections of the society, one will surely find that the matter with the lower income groups are getting worse each day. Increased hunger and food insecurity have continue to surge amidst the price hike in India. If we look at certain statistics, we find that the prices of essential food items have increased by 50% in seven years, whereas the real wage rate has risen by 22%. India’s low income groups are now being pushed to live under absolute poverty, with lesser earnings and increase in loan structure. The declining wage rates, Covid-19, high rural unemployment, income inequality and high food inflation have only brought down the quality of lives for the poor and the middle class. 

This forces us to ponder over one burning question: Are the low income groups forced to bear the brunt of inflation?

https://digpu.com/politics/supriya-refers-modi-as-the-mehangaai-man