New Delhi, Aug 27 : With India’s retail inflation measured by the consumer price index (CPI), seeing a huge rise to 7.44 per cent in July owing to a hike in food prices as food inflation witnessed a massive jump of 11.51 per cent, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) which is all set to take on the BJP-led NDA is leaving no stone unturned to target the government.
Amid the soaring prices of vegetables and fruits among the essential commodities, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had on August 1 visited Azadpur Mandi in Delhi, one of Asia’s biggest wholesale market of vegetables and fruits and interacted with the shopkeepers and labourers working there.
He invited Rameshwar, a vegetable vendor, to his home for lunch after a video showing his helplessness to buy vegetables moved the nation, highlighting the hardships being faced by the common people and the poor.
After his visit, Rahul Gandhi had targeted the government over inflation and the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities saying that the poor want an ear to listen to them and a shoulder to support them.
Rahul Gandhi, who was disqualified as a MP in March this year following conviction in a 2019 ‘Modi surname remarks’ defamation case, has been targeting the government over inflation and the high cost of living.
In the last few months, he has been leading the grand old party to criticise the government over various issues as he has been making surprise visits to the people in and around the national capital to get a sense of the real issues.
The opposition grouping INDIA parties, which will hold its third meeting in Maharashtra’s Mumbai for two days on August 31 and September 1, has already been targeting the government over the prices of petrol, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders despite the Russian bounty.
Speaking to IANS, Congress leader Manickam Tagore said, “The prices of diesel and petrol have already broken the back of the middle class and poor people.”
He said that the increase in the prices of petrol and diesel, which have been selling at exorbitant rates for the last few years, has led to an increase in the cost of essential commodities.
Tagore added that the price of LPG cylinders, which used to sell at around Rs 400 has also skyrocketed to over Rs 1,000.
Targeting the BJP government at the Centre, the Congress Lok Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu’s Virudhu Nagar, said that the government is not ready to listen to the voice of the people, who have been hurt most by inflation and the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities.
He accused the government of not caring for the common and poor people and said that it only listens to a few of its ‘khas’ (special) friends.
Tagore suggested to the government that the only way to bring the cost of the essential commodities down is reducing the prices of petrol and diesel to 2014 rates.
Besides the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT), Trinamool Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and others have already opened a front against the government over inflation.
India’s retail inflation measured by the consumer price index (CPI), saw a huge rise to 7.44 per cent in July owing to the hike in food prices, as food inflation witnessed a massive jump of 11.51 per cent.
The rise in retail and food inflation in July is huge compared to the fact that retail inflation in June was 4.87 per cent, while food inflation was 4.55 per cent.
The July inflation has also breached for the second time in recent month the RBI’s tolerance limit of 6 per cent.
The big spike in retail inflation in July is mainly due to the increase in the prices of fruits and vegetables, cereals, pulses, milk products and even clothing and footwear, according to figures released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation on August 14. In July 2022, retail inflation was 6.71 per cent and food inflation was 6.69 per cent.
