Karnataka Congress dubs fuel price hike 'tax terrorism'

The Karnataka Congress has planned to launch a marathon protest—"100 Not Out"—from June 11 to 15, to protest against petrol and diesel price hike by the Narendra Modi government.

"The protests led by frontal organisations of the party will be held in front of 5,000 petrol bunks in the state between 11am to 12 noon on five days, starting with the district centres, and followed by taluk centres, zilla panchayats, gram panchayats and the cities," said KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar, in a press meet held at KPCC office in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, former minister Krishna Byregowda, Priyank Kharge and Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad slammed the Modi government alleging the Centre had unleashed "tax terrorism" on the common man, who was already suffering due to the pandemic, income and job losses.

"The central tax per litre of diesel in 2014 was Rs 3 and 46 paisa and petrol was nine rupees and 20 paisa. But today, it has increased to Rs 31.71 and Rs 32.90. The LPG price has increased from Rs 410 per cylinder in 2014 to Rs 820 under Modi's rule. The BJP is blaming the fuel price hike on the international crude oil price. But the UPA government sold petrol for Rs 70 per litre when the crude oil price was 130 US dollars per barrel. But now, the crude oil price is only 70 US dollars a barrel, but the petrol cost has hit Rs 100," said Byregowda, alleging it was "tax terrorism".

"The taxes on petrol and diesel is a money spinner for the Modi government. The government had earned a revenue of Rs 52,532 crore on these taxes in 2013, but it is now Rs 3.50 lakh crore. The petrol pumps are the tax collection booths for the BJP government. The Modi government reduced the corporate taxes and is making good for the deficit by taxing the common man. Instead of burdening the working class and the middle class Indians, the government should tax the rich," added Byregowda.

Priyank Kharge stated that the Modi government had indeed "broken all records" by achieving highest unemployment in India since Independence, lowest economic growth of -23 per cent and highest fuel prices. "The hike in fuel price will have a cascading effect on several sectors from transport, automobiles, agriculture, retail to textiles and the common man will end up paying exorbitant price for essential commodities and commuting. The slump in automobiles sales will lead to job cuts in SMEs and MSMEs, which might even shut shop. The Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell has noted the fuel consumption has fallen by 5 per cent and the demand reduced by 4.6 per cent. This is no way to revive the economy," said Kharge, adding that the Congress would gift a bicycle to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa in a symbol of protest.

Arshad called the fuel price hike as "Modi tax". "BJP men always rake up emotional issues. But we want the focus back on the real issues and the issues concerning the poor and the middle classes. They (BJP) said they wanted a strong PM. Modi is certainly hard-hearted and cannot empathise with the common man of this country who are burdened with huge taxes," said Arshad.