The Congress on Sunday launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his appeal urging people to save fuel and postpone gold purchases, accusing him of being “clueless” about protecting India’s energy security amid the ongoing Iran-US war.
The opposition party claimed it was unfair to push the burden of the global energy crisis onto ordinary citizens instead of preparing stronger safeguards to shield the economy from international disruptions.
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal accused the Centre of failing to plan adequately despite the conflict continuing for months.
“Three months into the Iran-US war and PM Modi is still clueless about ensuring India’s energy security,” Venugopal wrote on X.
“It is shameless, reckless and downright immoral that the PM is pushing the common citizen into inconvenience, instead of building contingencies to ensure our economy is unaffected by this global crisis,” he added.
PM MODI’S APPEAL DURING TELANGANA RALLY
The Congress criticism came hours after PM Modi, during a BJP rally in Hyderabad, Telangana, urged citizens to conserve petrol and diesel and revive Covid-era practices such as work from home, online meetings and video conferencing to help reduce fuel consumption and save foreign exchange.
“We developed work from home, virtual meetings and video conferencing during Corona. We got habituated to it. The need of the hour is to resume those methods,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister also asked citizens to postpone purchases of gold and foreign travel for one year, saying India must save foreign exchange amid the ongoing West Asia crisis.
“We have to save foreign exchange by any means,” he said.
PM Modi also called for greater use of metro rail services, carpooling, electric vehicles and railway parcel services while urging people to reduce consumption of edible oil and chemical fertilisers.
According to the Prime Minister, the ongoing war and global supply-chain disruption have sharply increased the prices of petrol and fertilisers worldwide.
“When there is pressure on the supply chain, difficulties increase despite various measures by the government to overcome the crisis,” Modi said.
CONGRESS WARNS OF ‘ECONOMIC CATASTROPHE’
Venugopal claimed the Centre’s priorities were misplaced and warned of serious economic consequences if stronger contingency planning was not carried out immediately.
“When elections and petty politics are the sole priority of the PM, the end result is an impending economic catastrophe,” he said.
He also demanded that the Centre ensure adequate fuel reserves and prevent hardship for citizens.
“The PM and his government must make all necessary arrangements to ensure India has ample fuel reserves and no citizen faces any hardship as a result of their lack of planning,” Venugopal said.
HARDEEP PURI DEFENDS CENTRE
Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri defended the Prime Minister’s appeal and said conserving fuel would help India navigate the global energy crisis caused by military conflict involving major energy-producing nations.
“Measures such as these will help the nation conserve energy, save on the energy import bill and overcome the challenges arising out of the serious military conflict involving many energy producing nations,” Puri wrote on X.
The Union minister claimed India was among the few countries that had managed to maintain stable fuel supplies and avoid steep energy price hikes despite the global turmoil.
“India is among very few countries which have not raised energy prices and has maintained steady supplies to citizens even as crises unfold in many parts of the world,” he said.
Puri said oil marketing companies were purchasing crude oil, gas and LPG at higher rates but continuing to sell products at lower prices to shield consumers.
“OMCs are buying crude, gas and LPG at higher cost, but are selling final products at lower cost leading to mounting losses of up to Rs 1,000 crore per day,” he said.
According to Puri, estimated under-recoveries during the current quarter could touch Rs 2 lakh crore while losses may reach nearly Rs 1 lakh crore.
He also said the Modi government had reduced excise duties on retail fuel, resulting in revenue losses of around Rs 14,000 crore in a month.
“Let us turn PM Modi Ji’s empathetic appeal into a Jan Andolan to save and conserve energy,” Puri said.
The exchange marks the latest political flashpoint over rising global energy prices and the economic fallout of the escalating conflict in West Asia.
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