Accusing the Centre of profiteering from low international oil prices, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pass on the benefits to the citizens by rolling back the additional taxes on petroleum products.

“Your Government is seeking to earn an additional revenue of nearly ₹2,60,000 crores by these ill-advised hikes in excise duty and increases in the petrol of diesel. As it is, people across the board are facing unimaginable hardships what to say of widespread fear and insecurity. These price increases are saddling our people with an additional burden of this enormous magnitude that is neither justified nor appropriate,” Ms. Gandhi said in her letter.

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“It is the duty and responsibility of the government to alleviate suffering, not put the people to still greater hardship. I see no logic in why the Government would even consider such a price increase at a time when the economic impact of COVID-19 is depriving millions of jobs and livelihood, devastating business big and small, rapidly eroding the income of the middle class, even as farmers are struggling to sow the crop for the Kharif season,” she added.

The Congress chief said that it was “deeply distressing” to note that since the beginning of March and in the midst of the pandemic, the government had taken the ‘insensitive’ decision to increase prices of petrol and diesel on 10 different occasions.

“Given that the international price of crude oil has fallen by approximate 9% over the last week (coming after a collapse of crude oil prices over the last few months), the Government is doing nothing short of profiteering off its people – when they are down and out,” Ms. Gandhi said.

The Congress leader said that over the past six years, the Narendra Modi government’s revenues had been ‘massively enriched’ by the cumulative increase in excise duty on petrol and diesel and it had shored up a staggering ₹18,00,000 crore from excise collection on petrol and diesel alone.

“If ever there was ever a time to deploy these resources in the service of the people, it is now. I urge you to roll back these increases and pass on the benefit of low oil prices directly to the citizens of this country,”she said, adding, “Please use the government’s resources to put money directly into the hands of those who need it in this time of severe hardship”.