New Delhi, 28-11-2024: The Congress party accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of focusing more on manipulating data and propaganda than on tackling inflation. Congress general secretary-in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh slammed the government for prioritizing the presentation of low inflation figures over addressing the actual economic hardships faced by ordinary citizens. Ramesh argued that India has been experiencing what he called “Modi-made inflation” for the past decade, fueled by the government’s flawed policy-making.
In his statement, Ramesh claimed the Modi administration’s main goal was not to reduce inflation but to distort official statistics like the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) to present a false picture of control. “The reality on the ground is far different,” he said. “The common man continues to face relentless price hikes, particularly in food, fuel, and essential daily goods, placing a heavy burden on India’s working and middle-class families.”
Despite global crude oil prices dropping, Ramesh pointed out that fuel prices remain high in India, exacerbating transportation costs and increasing the prices of goods and services. Food inflation has remained particularly high, contributing to the overall rise in prices. Ramesh further criticized the government for attempting to manipulate the CPI by reducing the weightage of food items in the index, which he described as a dishonest tactic to obscure the true extent of inflation. This change, he argued, would directly affect the incomes of millions of people, including government employees, who would see further reductions in their dearness allowance and salary increments.
Ramesh highlighted this as part of a pattern where the Modi government has repeatedly misled the public through data manipulation. He cited past attempts to boost the GDP growth rate artificially by changing the base year for calculations and noted that similar tactics were used in employment data. The BJP’s original promise of providing two crore jobs annually to the youth was abandoned when unemployment numbers began to rise. The government, Ramesh claimed, altered criteria to include self-employment, Mudra loan beneficiaries, and temporary jobs in employment statistics.
The Congress leader also criticized the government’s use of EPFO data to claim record job growth, despite the data merely reflecting EPFO enrolment numbers rather than actual employment. He accused the government of creating a misleading multi-dimensional poverty index to portray a false reduction in poverty levels, while the poor have struggled to access welfare schemes.
Ramesh also pointed to discrepancies in fuel pricing, noting that despite falling crude oil prices, the Modi government has continued to increase the prices of petrol, diesel, and LPG. During the UPA government, data comparing India’s fuel prices with neighboring countries was publicly available through the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), but the current government removed this information from its website, further increasing its opacity. Meanwhile, oil and gas companies have seen record profits, and the government has raked in massive tax revenues from the public through petrol and diesel taxes, Ramesh claimed.
He concluded by stating that a government focused on data manipulation and propaganda, rather than on delivering tangible welfare to the people, cannot be trusted to serve the nation’s interests. “Such is the case with this government,” Ramesh said.