Modi’s Magic! Then Not Reduced, But Now Hiked

The price of crude oil had hit rock bottom when the majority of the world was under lockdown due to the Corona pandemic. The Covid-19 crisis and the 2020 Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war led to substantial decrease in the price of oil in March-April 2020. At one stage, the oil prices in the US and elsewhere had dipped below zero and fell to negative value for the first time in history as stockipled up.

Yet, the fuel prices in India were left unchanged. The prices of petrol and diesel remained the same in March and April when the global crude oil price fell drastically. However, the latest is the fuel prices have increased over the past 10 days.

The fuel prices in the country have been increased for the 10th day in a row. The prices of petrol and diesel have been hiked in Covid-19 crisis. This has become a hot topic in social media as many netizens are targeting BJP-led Union Government over its decision to hike fuel prices.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has also written a letter to PM Narendra Modi and called the decision to hike fuel prices as “insensitive” and “ill-advised”. She demanded the government to roll back the prices immediately. Sonia in her letter accused the Modi government of “doing nothing short of profiteering off its people when they are down and out”.

With Opposition parties raising the voice against the fuel price hike in this pandemic situation, the moot question is whether the government will roll back fuel prices or not. What many are pointing out is that why fuel prices were not reduced then (when crude oil prices fell drastically) and why the prices are being hiked now.