Four years of Modi govt: AAP slams govt on rising fuel prices, broken promises

Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday mounted a scathing attack on the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over its failure to fulfil the key election promises made at the time of general elections in 2014.

Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said at a press conference that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government had failed to deliver on creating two crore jobs every year, increasing the minimum support price (MSP) for farmers by one-and-a-half-times, providing safety for women and crediting every Indian’s bank account with ₹15 lakh.

“When anyone questions them on their failures, they distract the public by raising communally polarising issues, which are completely irrelevant to the worsening economic situation in the country,” Singh said at the conference, which was organised to take stock of the performance of the Modi government in the first four years.

The MP was severely critical of the rising fuel prices, which have breached the ₹85-mark in parts of the country.

“There has been a 211% increase in the excise duty of petrol since 2014. The excise duty on diesel, on the other hand, has witnessed a 450% steep rise since 2014,” noted Singh, adding that prices of crude on the international market have been on a downward spiral since the Modi government came to power.

“India’s oil prices are higher than that of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka,” he added.

The MP said that the rising prices have translated into higher input costs for agriculture and were having an adverse effect on inflation.

He further flayed the government on the issue of women’s safety, saying that government campaigns like ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ were just creating a false image about the BJP.

“A matter of fact remains that only 15 paisa per day per woman is being spent on measures to enhance women safety, even as BJP’s leaders go about raping women with impunity,” he said.

Taking more potshots at Modi government’s economic policies, Singh said that the BJP had gone back on its opposition to the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Aadhar and FDI in retail since it won elections in 2014.

AAP spokesperson Dilip Pandey at the press conference that the government had accumulated nearly ₹9 lakh crore in its coffers through the selling of petrol and diesel over the last two years. “This year, they are projected to collect ₹8 lakh crore,” he added, questioning if the BJP was planning on using the taxpayers’ money to fund its 2019 election campaign.

Both the AAP leaders, MP Singh and Pandey, held up the example of the AAP government in Delhi, saying PM Modi’s performance should be compared with that of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

“Delhi’s government presented the people with a budget surplus. We were the only state government in the country to do so. We have delivered on all of our key election promises on education, healthcare and bringing down costs in general,” said Singh.

“There must be a public debate in the country over the performance of the Modi government,” said Singh.

When asked if AAP would join hands with other Opposition parties in the lead-up to next year’s elections, Pandey remarked that “AAP doesn't believe that Narendra Modi is big enough to have all opposition parties joining hands against himself.”

He said, “Aam Aadmi Party will fight elections on its own.”