The Congress on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) repo rate hike, accusing the government of celebrating its achievements while the country was heading towards a “major economic crisis”.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh took a dig at Modi by quoting lyrics from the 1961 Dev Anand-starrer Hum Dono: “Barbadiyon ka jashn manata chala gaya, har fikr ko dhuein mein udata chala gaya.”
Ramesh shared a media report highlighting that existing loan instalments and the cost of new loans could rise following the RBI’s decision to increase interest rates, coming just ahead of the festive season.
The RBI on Wednesday raised its benchmark repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50 per cent, its first hike since February 2023. The central bank also shifted its policy stance to “calibrated tightening” from “neutral”, signalling that rate cuts were unlikely in the near term amid inflationary pressures, a weak rupee and high crude oil prices.
The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) unanimously backed the rate hike, while the change in policy stance was approved by a 4:2 majority.
Ramesh said the rate hike would increase the debt burden on people and make loans more expensive, affecting spending, investment and businesses.
“In the festive season, rampant inflation is breaking the back of the middle and poor classes, and amid rampant unemployment and falling incomes, people's pockets are emptying out,” he said in a Hindi post on X.
He also pointed to the continued decline in the stock market, claiming that foreign institutional investors had withdrawn around Rs 4 lakh crore from Indian equities over the past nine months.
“The rupee is at a historic low. All of this signals that the economy is heading into an abyss,” Ramesh said.
He accused the government of making “fake claims” about GDP growth while people were bearing the brunt of economic distress.
“The country is hurtling toward a major economic crisis, but Narendra Modi ji is busy celebrating 25 years of glory, abandoning the people's worries,” he said.
Ramesh also alleged that the government was formed through “stolen votes and fraud” and accused the Election Commission of being “firmly in their grip”.
Concluding his post, he repeated the Hum Dono lyrics, saying the song came to mind amid the economic situation: “Barbadiyon ka jashn manata chala gaya, har fikr ko dhuein mein udata chala gaya...”
(With inputs from PTI)
