New Delhi: Congress leader and the party’s general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said that the Modi government in the Centre earned Rs 39.54 lakh crore from the petroleum sector in the last eleven years, and yet it did not care to give any relief to the people. Under Modi, the people of India are being looted with heavy tax burden and hefty fuel prices, which is open economic exploitation, Ramesh said.
Accusing the government of "looting" people by increasing excise duty on petrol and diesel, Congress called for accountability on Sunday and demanded that the CAG audit how government policies benefited private companies, PTI reported.
Ramesh wrote in a Hindi post on X said that the people of India are being looted. On the one hand, the Modi government is increasing the tax burden and picking people's pockets, while on the other hand, private and government oil companies are making profits! This is open economic exploitation, he said.
He continued that the truth is that in May 2014, the excise duty on petrol was Rs 9.20 and on diesel Rs 3.46. Now it is Rs 19.90 for petrol and Rs 15.80 for diesel in the Modi government, which is an increase of 357% and 54%, he said.
According to him, in May 2014, crude oil was USD 108/barrel, and now it is only USD 65.31, which is 40% cheaper, yet the prices of petrol and diesel are higher than the UPA era, Ramesh said.
He continued that in 2014, petrol in Delhi was Rs 71.41 and diesel Rs 55.49 per litre. But now the same petrol is Rs 94.77 and diesel Rs 87.67 per litre. He accused the Modi government of openly looting the public. “Who is benefiting?" he asked.