Opposition parties on Monday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government after state-run oil marketing companies announced the fourth hike in petrol and diesel prices in ten days, pushing petrol in Delhi to ₹102.12 per litre”> ₹102.12 per litre and diesel to ₹95.20 per litre.
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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of “looting the public’s earnings in installments” and leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “Inflation Man.”
“The BJP’s appetite isn’t satisfied even after slapping a central tax of ₹1,000 crore daily on petrol-diesel. When international prices were low, they didn’t pass on the benefits to the people, instead, they looted them relentlessly,” Kharge wrote on X, demanding a rollback.
The repeated hikes come against the backdrop of rising global crude oil prices, with India’s crude oil import basket surging to around USD 113 to 114 per barrel from roughly USD 69 per barrel in February, driven by the Iran conflict and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
India kept retail prices of petrol and diesel largely unchanged for nearly four years before the recent revisions.
Opposition leaders across parties alleged the government deliberately held back increases through assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, and released them the moment polling concluded.
Gandhi, in a post on X, wrote: “They raise petrol-diesel prices in installments, so that your pocket keeps getting quietly fleeced. The moment elections ended, petrol-diesel was hiked by ₹8. And this rise will just keep happening. Inflation Man Modi’s only job is this, promises during elections, and the rest of the time, attacks on the public’s pocket.”
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Kharge said that petrol in Delhi stood at ₹71.41 per litre when the BJP came to power in 2014 and now stands at ₹102.12, a rise of 43.01%, while diesel has moved from ₹56.71 to ₹95.20 per litre, a jump of 67.87%.
He further alleged that the Modi government “looted ₹43 lakh crore in the last 12 years, making it a loot of ₹1,000 everyday,” and pointed out that “shares of HPCL [Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited], BPCL [Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited] and Indian Oil rose 5.8%, 4.44% and 3.90% respectively” on the day of the fourth hike. “Profit over People is BJP’s DNA,” he wrote.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on May 15 on X posted an illustration of himself riding a bicycle with the caption: “If one has to move forward, then a bicycle is the only option.”
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal on X wrote: “Oil prices have risen again. Yet we are still not buying cheap oil from Russia and Iran. What is Mr. Modi’s such compulsion?”
Kejriwal urged the government to purchase oil and gas from Russia and Iran at cheaper rates, saying the people of the country needed relief from both the shortage and the rising cost of fuel.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on X, said that while several countries witnessed petrol and diesel price increases of between “20% and nearly 100%” following the West Asia conflict, “India limited the rise to just 3.2% for petrol and 3.4% cent for diesel”, and that India’s public sector oil companies absorbed huge losses for weeks to protect citizens from inflation and economic pressure.
The BJP-led central government is yet to formally respond to the tax collection figures cited by Kharge and Gandhi.
The cumulative increase this month stands at ₹7.35 per litre on petrol and ₹7.53 per litre on diesel.
Congress long demanded that petroleum products be brought under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) framework, arguing it would limit the Centre’s ability to levy unchecked excise duties, a demand successive GST councils have deferred.
With oil marketing companies flagging continued supply uncertainty, opposition parties have signalled the fuel price issue will remain central to their campaign against the government.
