Union Minister Smriti Irani faced a barrage of tough questions from a Congress leader over the sharp rise in fuel prices onboard a Delhi-Guwahati flight on Sunday. In a video that has gone viral, Mahila Congress’ Acting President Netta D’Souza was seen posing a series of questions to the minister. D’Souza, who was filming the entire incident, posted the video on her official Twitter account. The Congress leader said that when asked about the price rise, the minister blamed “the vaccine, ration, even the poor.”
Replying to one of the comments, D’Souza said that she was ‘not afraid of any flight ban.’
In the less than a minute clip, Irani can be heard saying “please don’t lie.” The minister later said that she was “being accosted” and that her way was being “blocked”.
While several Congress leaders such as Devendra Yadav and Jitu Patwari have retweeted the video along with sharp criticism against the Narendra Modi government, the Union Minister has not posted anything on her Twitter handle so far.
It should be noted that in the last 16 days, the prices of petrol and diesel have been hiked 14 times. All major cities across India are selling the fuel at a rate of over Rs 100 per litre.
Despite the volatility in the crude oil prices globally, there was no change in the petrol, diesel rates in the four months leading up to the assembly elections in five states. The Opposition blamed the Centre of resorting to gimmicks to win polls. The government, on its part, has blamed global factors behind the rally in petrol and diesel prices. The Centre has also said that the rise in fuel prices in India in wake of the global volatility is among the lowest in the world.