'Government's Focus Is To Show Inflation As Low, Not On Reducing It': Jairam Ramesh
Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh today, on November 28, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the central government of manipulating the figures regarding inflation, unemployment and other pressing issues. Rather than solving problems such as reducing inflation, the Congress leader says, the Prime Minister’s focus is on showing the inflation figure as low.
The Rajya Sabha MP alleged that the Union government is now attempting to manipulate the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) figures to show inflation as being under control. But the ground reality, he adds, is that the pockets of the common man is constantly increasing as they has been facing non-stop price surge.
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The Congress leader said India has seen ten years of a Modi-made inflation, created and fostered by the government’s poor policymaking. Price rise has been particularly high for food, fuel, and other daily use items, pushing the middle class and poor to heavy financial burden.
“Despite fall in crude oil prices in the global market, petrol and diesel remain expensive in India, which has increased the cost of transportation and other services,” the statement issued by the Congress MP noted. Jairam Ramesh further pointed out the food inflation as another concern that underlined the high level of inflation.
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Alleging that the government is trying to hide the real impact of inflation by reducing the weightage of food items in the CPI, the Congress leader noted that the action is not only dishonest but it will impact the incomes of an estimated 3 to 4 crore people, including the government and semi-government employees.
The Congress leader then highlighted that it was not the first time the Modi-government has tried to mislead the citizens by juggling data. To begin with, the BJP government made an attempt to artificially increase the growth rate by changing the base year earlier, when it found itself lagging behind the erstwhile UPA government. He then pointed out the same game was played in the employment promise as well.
“A government that is focused on propaganda and data manipulation is not one that can be relied on to work for the people’s welfare,” the Congress leader added. He had on Wednesday underscored huge slowdown in the private consumption of households in India, suggesting bankruptcy among the people, especially the middle class.
The non-biological Prime Minister’s Government is focused on hiding the truth and manipulating the figures rather than solving problems like inflation and unemployment. Our statement on this extremely pressing issue pic.twitter.com/TiZ38lceOC
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) November 28, 2024
