New Delhi, Aug 27 (IANS): Rising inflation, especially the prices of food items, has consistently been a crucial election issue in India.
In the 1970s when the Janata Party was in power at Centre, Indira Gandhi toured across the country with a garland of onions around her neck to garner public support against the exorbitant rise in onion prices. In the 1980 Lok Sabha elections, she turned it into a major issue and won the polls to become the Prime Minister again.
Despite the support garnered by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government after the successful nuclear test in Pokhran in 1998, the BJP had to face defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections due to the increasing onion prices. Since then, the BJP has not been able to win the Delhi Legislative Assembly elections.
This is the reason why the BJP has started preparing strategies to counter the opposition parties on the issue of inflation.
A BJP leader tells IANS that the party leaders will "expose" the opposition parties' attempt to spread "misinformation" about inflation on every platform.
Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has repeatedly claimed that the Congress is responsible for the higher prices of petrol and diesel due to the burden of oil bonds issued during UPA government's tenure.
He asserts that while the BJP-ruled states have reduced VAT and other taxes on petrol and diesel to provide relief to the public, the opposition-ruled states are not doing so in their respective states.
The BJP leader also says that the impact of global issues like the Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war, have affected India too and led to the increase in prices of commodities.
During the recent days, heavy rains in several states of the country, including Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh, have led to an unprecedented increase in the prices of goods, especially vegetables. However, the government is making efforts to provide relief to the people, and the situation is improving, he asserts.
"While all major economies of the world are grappling with crisis, the Modi government has managed to control the inflation rate in India. Even the inflation rates in European countries, and even in countries like China and the US are higher than in India," he says, adding that the party will take these arguments to the public, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated this by addressing the issue of inflation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15.
Speaking on inflation, Prime Minister Modi recently said that while the inflation has gripped the global economy, the government has made substantial efforts to control inflation in the country, and the government's efforts to reduce the burden on the public, especially regarding inflation, will continue in the coming days.
Prime Minister Modi said: "We not only import goods but also inflation from the world. Inflation has gripped the entire world. India has made efforts to control inflation. In comparison to the previous period, we have achieved some success. However, we are not satisfied with this much. I want the burden of inflation on my countrymen to be as little as possible. We will continue to take those steps. My effort will continue relentlessly."
To counter the accusations made by opposition parties on the issue of inflation, the BJP will also promote and propagate the achievements and welfare schemes implemented by the government, especially those aimed at the poor and the middle-class.