New Delhi: In a speech delivered six days after votes were counted in the assembly elections in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday (May 10), while addressing a gathering in Secunderabad that it was a “time of crisis” in India and a moment to “take some pledges, keeping in mind our duties above all else”.Modi urged citizens to reduce consumption, particularly of fossil fuels, avoid discretionary imports and adopt more “self-reliant” habits – primarily emphasising the need to conserve foreign exchange reserves. He said these pledges should be fulfilled “with complete submission”.“You are witnessing the challenges across the world. The crisis in West Asia is continuing, and the impact of the war is being felt globally. Bharat is also affected by this situation,” PM Modi said, DD News reports.India’s foreign exchange reserves are well below their 2021 peak levels at present, at around USD 690 billion, and have suffered two major falls this financial year, of around USD 10 billion and a further slide by around USD 7.7 billion.Against this backdrop, the prime minister laid out “pledges” for ordinary citizens that involve changing their lifestyles for one year to “help the nation”. Much of his speech framed economic adjustment as a matter of individual behavioural change, calling on households, workers and consumers to reduce spending (including on cooking medium) and discretionary imports – and for farmers to drastically cut down on fertiliser use.The Prime Minister’s ideas have drawn sharp criticism, with the Congress party saying he was “cluless” even after three months of the war in West Asia about how to ensure energy security.3 months into the Iran-US war and PM Modi is still clueless about ensuring India’s energy security.It is shameless, reckless and downright immoral that the PM is pushing the common citizen into inconvenience, instead of building contingencies to ensure our economy is unaffected… https://t.co/LoTPH0huE0— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) May 10, 2026Below are the PM’s ideas, proposed in his speech:Use less petrol and dieselOne big “sankalp” or pledge Modi asked people to take in his speech is to use petrol and diesel in moderation. “We will have to reduce the consumption of petrol and diesel,” he said.In cities that have metro rail services, people should decide that they will only use the metro, he said, adding, “We should decide that we will use the metro more rather than less (“zyada se zyada”) to get around.” Metro rail services were available in 18 cities in 2020 and are now (March 2026) available in 20 cities, spanning just over 1,095 kilometres.Modi said that if it was essential to “only travel” by car, then people must try to carpool. “Those who have electric vehicles should also try that they use those vehicles as much as possible,” he said.To transport goods, the prime minister said, people must try to use the railways’ goods trains, so that the consumption of fossil fuels can be lowered. India imports more than 85% of its crude oil requirements, making the economy highly vulnerable to global energy price shocks.On the same day, the Prime Minister organised a road show in the Telengana city.For office employees and workersHarking back to the COVID-19 pandemic, the prime minister reminded people of work from home, online meetings and video conferences that had become the norm during India’s extended lockdowns. He said in his speech that Indians “popularised” many such online services, adding, “And we got used to them as well!”Today, he said, it was a “demand of the time that we resume those services”, saying that would be in the interest of the nation.“Work from home, online conferencing, virtual meetings – we will have to prioritise them once again,” Modi said, adding that with the crisis India faced today, people must focus on making these changes in a big way – “bohot zor dena hoga.”Modi referred to the escalation in prices of petrol and diesel around the world, saying that it was now a collective responsibility of citizens to save the foreign currency being depleted in purchasing costlier fuel.“By saving petrol and diesel, we must save our forex reserves,” he said. “Even small steps will help the country in a big way,” he said.Curb middle class culture, gold buyingAccording to the prime minister, a culture has developed within the “middle class” of taking vacations overseas, travelling overseas and marrying overseas. He said that since the current moment was one of crisis (“sankat ka kaal“), therefore, people should decide to “put off any thoughts about going abroad for at least one year for the sake of their love for the country”.“Bharat me bahut saari jagah hai – there are many places in India – we can go there!” he suggested.The prime minister also urged people to avoid buying gold, whether as a store of value or as an ornament. He said gold purchases deplete foreign exchange reserves “in a big way”, and reminded people of times when people would donate their gold assets during times of crisis.#WATCH | PM @narendramodi urged citizens to support India’s self-reliance mission by reducing petrol and diesel consumption. He encouraged people to use metros, carpool, electric vehicles, and to prefer work-from-home and virtual meetings whenever possible.The Prime Minister… pic.twitter.com/ldqEXqFT2p— DD News (@DDNewslive) May 10, 2026“Today, there is no need for such charity (“daan”) but, in the interest of the country, we will have to decide that for a year we will not buy gold or gift gold in the family for any function or programme,” he said.The appeal for restrained consumption comes even as domestic consumption remains a key driver of India’s economic growth. The Economic Survey 2025-26 noted that private final consumption expenditure accounted for over 60% of GDP.Further, gold accounts for around 5% of India’s total import bill, and the country imported a record USD 71.98 billion in gold in fiscal year 2025-26. However, there was a close to 5% dip in gold imports in volume terms, from 757.09 tonnes in 2024-25 to 721.03 tonnes, on account of the quick rise in price of the commodity due to the West Asia crisis.Workers responsible for copper import billThe prime minister referred to India’s import dependence for copper, holding workers responsible for the situation. Modi did not specify which copper plants or strikes he was referring to when he said, “By organising strikes, copper plants have been shuttered in India and now the conditions are such that forex is spent on copper imports. And currency reserves are spent on it.”In 2018, a Vedanta Sterlite Copper plant in Tamil Nadu was shut down following protests by local residents against environmental pollution. Thirteen people were killed in police firing during anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi that year.He appealed to workers’ outfits to keep in mind that they must distance themselves from “anything” that comes in the way of India becoming atmanirbhar (self-reliant). “And those who are engaged in such conspiracies, they too, will have to be closely monitored,” he said.Lower cooking medium consumptionThe prime minister said India’s cooking oil imports cost the country “a lot” and said families that do use cooking oils must reduce their consumption, by just 10% if possible, to improve the health of the nation’s exchequer and family health. “If we start eating less oil, even that is a big contribution to the country,” he said.According to the ministry of consumer affairs press note from September 2021, India imports 60% of its edible oil, which makes the measures proposed by the prime minister unclear in their potential impact.While referring to energy security, he did not discuss cooking gas cylinders, about which there have been complaints on unavailability from diferent parts of the country.Slash fertiliser use, move towards natural farmingPrime Minister Modi said import dependence on chemical fertiliser was hurting mother earth (“dharti ma”) and agricultural fields, putting at risk the health of farms and people. “We should cut [chemical fertiliser use] by 25–30–40–50%, he said.“Cut it, reduce it by half,” he said, promoting a shift towards “natural” farming.India remains highly import dependent for phosphatic and potassic fertilisers and their raw materials, according to the Union government. Fertilisers are also subsidised to support the needs of India’s young and growing population.Modi said India would have to defeat the challenges that have come from overseas, and referred to the government of India’s programme to introduce solar pumps in farms instead of diesel gensets.Stop importing shoes, bags, pursesThe prime minister said Indians should buy local items from shoes to bags to purses. “I am not saying that you should throw away the foreign items you have,” he said, suggesting that these were not permanent measures.Instead, Modi said, “We should just not buy new foreign goods.”The remarks come even as India has pursued a number of trade deals with nations and trading blocs in recent months, expanding cross-border trade and lowering tariffs on imported goods. The speech echoed themes repeatedly mentioned by the Union government and the prime minster ever since he launched the Atmanirbhar Bharat programme during the COVID-19 pandemic.