Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at the Narendra Modi-led government on September 1 over the rise in the price of LPG cylinders and the monetisation plan announced by the government in August.

“When UPA left in 2014, LPG cylinder was priced at Rs 410/cylinder. Today, it costs Rs 885/cylinder - a rise of 116%. Petrol was Rs 71.5/litre in 2014, today it's Rs 101/litre - a rise of 42%. Diesel was priced at Rs 57/litre in 2014, it's Rs 88/litre today,” the Congress leader said on a day when the price of LPG went up by Rs 25.

Earlier in the day too, Gandhi had tweeted the list of hikes in prices of the cooking gas cylinder since January this year along with the hashtag “IndiaAgainstBJPLoot.”

जनता को भूखे पेट सोने पर मजबूर करने वाला ख़ुद मित्र-छाया में सो रहा है…लेकिन अन्याय के ख़िलाफ़ देश एकजुट हो रहा है।#IndiaAgainstBJPLoot pic.twitter.com/ifFJVeUg7W

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 1, 2021

Further slamming the price hikes, he said people can argue that there is a rise in prices of petrol and diesel in the international market and then pointed out, that during the UPA government in 2014, crude oil was priced at Rs 105, today it's Rs 71 - it was 32% higher then. Gas was priced at Rs 880 during the UPA regime, today it's Rs 653 - 26% lower, he added.

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The Congress leader also jabbed the government’s Rs 6 lakh crore asset monetisation plan, saying, “First Modi ji said that he is undertaking demonetisation and Finance Minister says that she is undertaking monetisation. The people are asking what is undergoing monetisation, and what is being subjected to demonetisation?”

He said that in past seven years, India has witnessed a new economic paradigm with demonetisation on one side, and monetisation on the other. “Farmers, labourers, small and medium businesses, MSMEs, salaried class, government employees and honest industrialists are being demonetised. Who is being monetised? 4-5 friends of Narendra Modi ji - economic transfer is being done,” he told reporters.

He also took potshots at the government over India’s GDP, which was recorded a growth of 20.1 percent on a low base in the first quarter of the financial year 2021-22.

Gandhi said that the PM keeps saying the GDP is rising while Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman says the GDP is showing an upward projection. “I then understood what does it mean by GDP. It means 'Gas-Diesel-Petrol'. They have this confusion,” he said.

(Edited by : Kanishka Sarkar)