New Delhi: Opposition parties lashed out at the government on Friday (May 15) after a Rs 3 per litre hike each in petrol and diesel prices, calling it a “Modi government-made crisis” and a fallout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mistake, for which the public will be paying the price. The parties accused the government of raising fuel prices soon after assembly elections ended, and questioned why lower global crude prices prior to the West Asia conflict were not passed on to the consumer.The fuel price hike comes amid mounting losses of state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) due to surging global crude prices amid the West Asia crisis. While Prime Minister Modi had last week called for austerity measures from citizens due to the conflict, The Wire has reported that Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri earlier this week said there is no fuel supply shortage in the country, without ruling out a price hike. Puri had referred to fuel prices not being hiked in four years, and said that while the move is unrelated to elections, oil companies are losing Rs 1,000 crore everyday.“The Modi government’s mistake, The public will pay the price,” wrote Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi in a statement on X.“The Rs 3 shock has already arrived, the rest of the recovery will be done in installments.”Congress president and leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said that the people of the country are facing a Modi-Govt-Made crisis” due to the leadership crisis in the government.“The people of the country must understand that, alongside the current international fuel crisis, the major reason for the economic crisis in India is the leadership crisis in the Modi government, the lack of visionary thinking, and incompetence that is overflowing to the brim,” he said.“This crisis is a Modi-Govt-Made crisis. The common people of the country are paying the price for it from their own pockets on petrol, diesel, and LPG.”Kharge also questioned the move to bring in the fuel price hike after the assembly elections have come to an end.“During elections, the Modi government behaves as if ‘everything is normal’ and the central government’s job is only to fight elections in the states,” he said.Kharge referred to the US government’s move to allow a waiver to India to purchase Russian oil due to the supply chain disruptions caused by the conflict in West Asia and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.“The question is, why has Modi ji brought the country to a position where it has to beg for “permission”? Isn’t it true that when international Crude Oil prices were low, the Modi government gave no relief to the common people, and instead earned Rs 43 lakh crore from Central Taxes in 10 years? So why is the burden of inflation being imposed on the people now?” he questioned.Samajwadi Party chief and MP Akhilesh Yadav shared an illustration of himself riding a bicycle, which is his party’s symbol, with the caption in Hindi on X and wrote: “If one has to move forward, then a bicycle is the only option.”Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose accused the Modi government of cheating the public by staying silent during the elections.“This is cheating by the Modi government. While he campaigned, he remained silent on the energy crisis. Once the polls are over, where he has looted the votes, he is looting the purse of the ordinary citizen,” she said at a press conference in Delhi.“It’s an attack on the pockets of ordinary citizens. ‘Modinomics’ is a glaring failure. The bubble has burst. The Modi government is a ‘dhokhebaaz’ government. When it was necessary to prepare for the energy crisis, PM Modi was busy campaigning. You [PM Modi] are cheating the people,” she saidOpposition parties also questioned the Modi government’s foreign policy for “mortgaging” India’s interests to the US.In a statement, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation said that the “economic crisis has been deepened by the government’s foreign and economic policy failures – especially the mortgaging of the country’s foreign policy and trade interests to the US-Israel axis. And now the government is busy shifting the burden of the crisis onto ordinary people.”“We strongly condemn the fuel price hike, which will intensify inflation, increase the prices of essential commodities, and severely impact the lives and livelihoods of the people. The consequences of any fuel price increase will extend across sectors, including agriculture and transport, further worsening the economic distress faced by millions,” it said.“The government must immediately revoke the hike, end the policy of deregulated market-linked fuel pricing, regulate fuel prices to alleviate the growing suffering of the people, and take urgent measures to arrest the unfolding economic disaster.”