Armed with basket of veggies worth Rs 1,050, Cong slams Modi over inflation

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: The Congress Tuesday attacked the Centre over rising prices of vegetables and other essential food items, calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘Mehengaai Man’ and demanding immediate steps from his government to address the issue.

Addressing the media with a basket full of vegetables and spices of everyday use — such tomatoes, garlic, green chili and ginger — in front of her, the Congress’s national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, “we had read and heard about Super Man and Spider Man and now we have a Mehngai Man in India and his name is [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi”.

She added, “This basket [the one in front of her] costs as much as Rs. 1070 today. But does the government care?” Narrating the story of a “king” whose followers used to mislead people over rising prices, Shrinate said, “The king whose name is ‘Mehengaai 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’,” she said.

“Modi ji, came to power with an empty promise of saving us from inflation” alleged Shrinate, adding that the price of flour had increased by 46 percent from 2013 — when the Congress was in power at the Centre; Modi became PM in 2014.

Shrinate further listed that the price of rice had crossed Rs. 36 per kg, compared to the Rs. 25 in 2013.

Pulses, priced at Rs. 72 per kg then, now come for more than Rs.160-170. Mustard oil has doubled from Rs. 90 per litre to Rs. 185, and even the price of salt has increased by 41 percent, she claimed.