Congress lawmaker Rahul Gandhi has kicked off an online campaign called "Speak Up Against Fuel Hike". The retail prices of petrol and diesel have hit the roof ever since the country entered the first phase of its unlock on 8 June. Diesel and petrol prices have been revised upwards almost every day during the last three weeks.
The party’s former chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday made an appeal to people via Twitter to join the ‘Speak Up’ campaign.
The video message posted by Gandhi in the tweet says, “The central government has left people on their own during the coronavirus pandemic and China situation. The centre is looting people creasing fuel price for consecutive 21 days. Let us raise our voices to compel the government to withdraw increased prices”.
The clip posted by Gandhi asks social media users to post videos of people perturbed by the fuel price hike.
The Congress party has been criticising the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the high fuel prices.
Since March, when the international crude oil prices tanked due to the failure of the OPEC+ nations to decide on production cuts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Congress party has been demanding that the government pass on the benefits to the common man through a reduction in retail prices.
For the first time in India's history, diesel prices per litre are higher than the per litre price of petrol in the country.
Senior Congress lawmakers and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Priyanka Gandhi have been raising the issue of high fuel prices over the last three months.