PM's entire focus not on reducing inflation but on data manipulation, propaganda: Congress

Congress leader criticizes Modi government for manipulating inflation data, impacting common man and economy negatively.

The Congress on Thursday (November 28, 2024) alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's entire focus is not on reducing inflation, but on showing low inflation figures, and said a government that is focused on propaganda and data manipulation is not one that can be relied on to work for people's welfare.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said India has seen ten years of a "Modi-made inflation", created and fostered by the government's poor policy-making.

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"The prime minister's entire focus is not on reducing inflation, but on showing low inflation figures. The government is now concertedly attempting to manipulate the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WP1) figures to show inflation as being under control, even as the ground reality is that the common man is facing non-stop price rise," Mr. Ramesh said in a statement.

He said price rise has been particularly high for food, fuel, and items of daily use, and it has placed a heavy burden on India's working class and middle class families.

Despite the fall in crude oil prices in the global market, petrol and diesel remain expensive in India, which has increased the cost of transportation and other services, the Congress general secretary said.

"Food inflation has been another concern that has underlined the high levels of overall inflation. Accordingly, the government is now preparing to reduce the weightage of food items in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This is an attempt to hide the real impact of inflation, and an indication of the government's priorities of massaging inconvenient data rather than acting on it," he said.