Faulty policies of the government have led to the skyrocketing of edible oil prices and dampened the festive spirit, the Congress alleged on Wednesday.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate at a press conference said that people were already struggling with high prices of onions, potatoes and tomatoes, and now even cooking oil had been added to the list of expensive food items.
“Prices of edible oil are skyrocketing because of the failures of the Central government,” Ms. Shrinate said at a media briefing.
She said mustard oil that was selling at ₹80 per litre last year and is now selling at ₹120; sunflower oil now sells at ₹110 per litre as opposed to ₹77 per a year back; and groundnut oil now costs ₹135 per litre as against ₹99 last year.
“Oil is used by everyone who cooks in India. So from the poorest person to the richest man [need it] and there is no elasticity in demand here. They [the government] should have taken care of this. You cannot make basic commodities unaffordable. You have made a basic commodity unaffordable in India,” Ms. Shrinate said.
She claimed that the poor were facing a “double whammy” as high prices of essential food items had been preceded by job losses and wage cuts during the lockdown.
“Which is where this government is immoral, which is where this government is inefficient, and we strongly call out inefficiency and immorality of their’s,” she said.
In a separate tweet, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said the Modi government was “solely responsible” for the price rise.
“On the one hand, farmers are facing a double whammy- expensive seeds and lower prices for their produce; on the other hand, the consumer is bearing the brunt of all round price rise. Only the Modi government is responsible,” Mr. Gandhi said in a Hindi tweet.
