Price rise 'alarming', there should be a 'state of emergency', says Congress

Condemning Prime Minster Narendra Modi's 'Ache Din' promise, Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury on Thursday said the price rise is really "an alarming situation", adding that it should be "a state of emergency".

Chowdhury said there was acute distress across the nation as the price rise would have a big impact on the society as well as the poor, who would not be able to eat anything nutritious that would lead to increase in malnutrition in the country.

"This is a situation that is really alarming as in my own kitchen, my budget has gone haywire. It has an impact on society, and it even impacts the malnutrition of the country. It impacts the poor people because they can't afford to eat anything nutrition worth. So, I don't know what the 'Ache Din' was about," Chowdhury told ANI.

"It's frightening, I can't afford to pay Rs 200 on a kilo of 'dal' (pulse) that is where you need to get your nutrition from. It's not possible to eat plain 'chawal' (rice) and 'gehu' (wheat)," Chowdhury added.

"It should be a state of emergency, where the government should apply its mind and not keep commenting on Raghuram Rajan or somebody else," Chowdhury stated.

Responding to a poser on the Una incident, in which the CBI probe stated that a cow was killed by a lion and not by Dalits, Chowdhury said it is a very sad thing done to our citizens. "These poor Dalit children were bitten mercilessly on the allegation without substantiating anything.,"

The Congress leader sought to know what the Centre and the state governments were going to do about it.

"After talking about the Gujarat model, what is the Prime Minster going to do about this? Is this the Gujarat model for the Dalits for the rest of the country? That is the question which Dalits are asking," Chowdhury concluded.

Meanwhile, expressing concern over incursion by Chinese troops in Uttarakhand, Chowdhury said, "This government talks big, and does nothing."

"Chinese have done this earlier with us in Arunachal Pradesh, and now they are doing this in Uttarakhand. They are just being aggressive about it," she said.

Stating that she does not recommend aggression in the answer, the Congress leader said, "The government should use their diplomatic tracks so that the citizen of India rests assured that this government is actually in control. Otherwise, it is unravelling somewhere, which is actually worrisome.