Increase in GDP is rise in LPG, diesel, petrol prices: Rahul

New Delhi: In a fresh attack on the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the consistent rise in fuel prices, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday equated the increase in GDP with the rise in the prices of "gas, diesel and petrol".

Hitting out at the government, Gandhi said that the Centre has earned over Rs 23 lakh crore in the last seven years from the increase the prices of diesel, petrol and LPG, which has affected every single person in the country.

Recalling the days of UPA government, Gandhi said, "When the UPA left office, the price of LPG was Rs 410 a cylinder, today it is Rs 885 -- a 116 per cent rise, while the price of petrol has increased by 42 per cent and diesel has increased by over 55 per cent since 2014."

"Today, people are giving the argument that these are dependent on the international market. But let me highlight the fact that the international prices for these have fallen since 2014, but it has increased in India. When the price of crude oil was much higher in the international market, fuel prices were very low in India during the UPA regime," he said.

Pointing to the condition of the economy, he said that India is back at the place where it was in 1990 as the country is facing an economic catastrophe.

"At that time, the Congress government had changed the vision for India, but that is not happening now... The economic structure and strategy that ran from 1991 to 2012 is not working anymore. We accept that it stopped working in our time in 2012. But Narendra Modi came with the promise of changing all that. But where is the change?" he asked.

"So, the interesting thing is, there is demonetisation taking place, where the farmers, labourers, small traders, MSMEs, contract workers, salaried class, honest industrialists are being hit and on the other side, there is a dramatic monetisation taking place," he said.

"They are three or four big industrialist friends of the Prime Minister, who are being benefited. There is a transfer of wealth taking place from the poor to the Prime Minister's friends. That is what is going on and that is what I wanted to raise today," he said.