'PM's 'sermons' are a proof of failure': Opposition flays Modi over austerity appeal row

The Opposition parties alleged that the PM acknowledged the West Asia crisis only once the elections ended.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for measures to be taken by citizens, including judicious use of petrol and diesel, to tackle West Asia crisis has attracted Opposition criticism on Monday with the Congress saying he is "lecturing" the country only after elections and the "compromised PM" is no longer capable of running the country.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said the Prime Minister's "sermons" were "proofs of failure" while Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the country is being preached to after elections are over.

Rahul said Modi’s demands for “sacrifices from the public” – don't buy gold, don't go abroad, use less petrol, cut down on fertilizer and cooking oil, take the metro, work from home – “aren’t sermons” but “proof of failure”. In 12 years, he said on ‘X’, Modi has brought the country to such a pass that the public has to be told what to buy, what not to buy, where to go and where not to go.

“Every time, they shift the responsibility onto the people so they can escape accountability themselves. Running the country is no longer within the reach of a compromised PM,” Rahul said in response to Modi’s appeal in a BJP rally in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Kharge said Modi is lecturing the country, but the Congress had highlighted the every crisis -- “ruin” of the economy, rupee's “continuous” fall, “shortage” of fuel, LPF and fertilisers, “looming threat” to food security and the “crisis” of MSMEs “and much more” when the West Asia war erupted.

“But why was the Prime Minister engrossed in election campaigning? Why was he doing roadshows? Why was he saying 'the situation is under control', ‘sab changa si'? Now that the elections are over, the country is being preached to – don't do this, don't buy that, save this, Work From Home! Don't dump the blame for your 12 years of failure on the people, Modi-ji.,” he said.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the “crisis” has been acknowledged by the BJP as soon as the elections ended but “there is only one ‘crisis’ for the country and its name is BJP.” He asked if so many restrictions had to be imposed, how will the “jumla economy of five trillion dollars” while insisting that the “reins have completely slipped” from the BJP’s hands.

Asking why all this appeal is made only after the elections, he said, “were the thousands of charter flights the BJP took during the elections flying on water? Weren't they staying in hotels, or cooking meals with photos of cylinders? Why didn't the BJP do their election campaigning just through video conferencing? Are all these restrictions only for the public?”

AAP's Sanjay Singh said, “in the name of patriotism, you must stop using petrol, diesel, and gas; don't buy gold; don't even use cooking oil. But Modi-ji will bring lakhs of people to his rallies in droves, go on foreign trips, burn plenty of fuel, his people won't just buy gold—they'll snap up the entire nation's wealth—but you keep playing the fool.”

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said the Prime Minister’s "unexpected pleas" to the people of the country could mean that the economic situation is "far more serious than what official numbers suggest" and what the PM and his colleagues have been claiming all this while.

⁠Tough austerity measures, including increase in fuel prices, may well be on their way and an environment is being created to make them more acceptable, he said

"That the ground-level economic situation -- reflected, for instance, in stagnation in real wages, growing household indebtedness, and lack of momentum in job-creating private investment-- is far removed from the Modi Govt’s propaganda has been obvious for a long time. The time for reckoning has arrived," he added.