Oppn slams Modi’s austerity appeals amid West Asia crisis, Congress demands special Parliament session

BJP’s Amit Malviya defends PM’s remarks, calling India’s economic strength a ‘shared responsibility’ of its citizens and not just the government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi | Photos: PTI

New Delhi: Opposition parties criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his seven-point appeal for economic frugality amidst the West Asia war, with the Congress demanding a special session of Parliament to discuss the PM’s remarks made just after state elections wrapped up.

Congress’s Rahul Gandhi was among opposition leaders who condemned PM’s address—made Sunday—in which Modi urged citizens to conserve fuel, cut non-essential foreign travel, revive work-from-home practices where possible, and rely on public transport and carpooling.

Stressing self-reliance and preparedness in the face of global instability, the PM also called for reduced dependence on imports and revival of Covid-era practices. He discouraged unnecessary gold purchases, promoted the use of electric vehicles and rail-based cargo movement, and called for lower edible oil consumption and reduced use of chemical fertilisers amid “challenging global times”.

Gandhi wrote on X that the PM’s appeals were not “sermons”, but “proofs of failure”.

“In 12 years, he’s brought the country to such a pass that the public has to be told what to buy, what not to buy, where to go, where not to go. Every time, they shift the responsibility onto the people, so they can escape accountability themselves,” Gandhi wrote, calling Modi a “compromised PM”.

मोदी जी ने कल जनता से त्याग मांगे – सोना मत ख़रीदो, विदेश मत जाओ, पेट्रोल कम जलाओ, खाद और खाने का तेल कम करो, मेट्रो में चलो, घर से काम करो।

ये उपदेश नहीं – ये नाकामी के सबूत हैं।

12 साल में देश को इस मुक़ाम पर ला दिया है कि जनता को बताना पड़ रहा है – क्या ख़रीदे, क्या न…

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 11, 2026

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram demanded a special session of Parliament to reveal the “true state of affairs” behind the PM’s remarks.

जब “ग़रीबी में आटा गीला” हो रहा है तब मोदी जी देश को बचत करने का पाठ पढ़ा रहे हैं।

28 फ़रवरी को West Asia में जंग शुरू हुई, कांग्रेस पार्टी ने हर पहलू को highlight किया —

अर्थव्यस्था की बर्बादी,
रुपये का लगातार गिरना,
पेट्रोल-डीज़ल-LPG के दाम और क़िल्लत,
किसानों के लिए…

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) May 11, 2026

Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose accused the BJP of rank hypocrisy, pointing to what she described as the PM’s “luxury diplomacy tour” and the fuel expended on election campaigning and VIP movements across states even as citizens were being asked to cut back. “For the people: austerity… Raja mast, janta trast,” she wrote on X.

The Congress escalated its attack, alleging in an X post from the party’s official account that the PM had “once again shirked his responsibility” by pushing the economic burden onto citizens rather than taking timely preventive action.

Calling the situation a “Modi-made disaster”, the party criticised the PM’s appeals, arguing that the government had failed to prepare for the economic fallout of the West Asia crisis while remaining preoccupied with elections and political campaigning. It also claimed that Rahul Gandhi had earlier warned the government of the situation to no avail.

BJP leader Amit Malviya defended the prime minister, saying the appeals were aimed at strengthening India’s economic resilience amid global instability, supply chain disruptions and rising inflationary pressures triggered by international conflicts.

In a detailed post on X, Malviya said Monday that Modi’s message underscored that the country’s economic strength was a “shared responsibility” of citizens and not just the government. He backed the PM’s calls to reduce fuel consumption, promote public transport and electric vehicles, revive work-from-home, avoid unnecessary foreign travel and gold purchases, and prioritise domestic products and tourism.

प्रधानमंत्री मोदी की देशवासियों से अपील इस बात की याद दिलाती है कि किसी भी राष्ट्र की शक्ति केवल सरकारों से नहीं, बल्कि नागरिकों की सामूहिक जिम्मेदारी और जागरूक विकल्पों से निर्मित होती है।

हैदराबाद में एक सभा को संबोधित करते हुए प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने देशवासियों से… pic.twitter.com/a72EA2w0eu

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) May 11, 2026

Kanika Pasricha, economist and chief economic adviser at Union Bank of India, put the PM’s message in economic context.

“We are an oil dependent economy, so oil prices consistently above $100 per barrel do not bode well for India because every $10 rise in crude significantly increases our annual dollar demand, widens the current account deficit and adds further pressure on the rupee and inflation,” she told ThePrint.

“At the same time, rising gold imports and higher spending on foreign travel are also worsening dollar outflows. The PM’s message is essentially about containing fundamental dollar demand by curtailing oil consumption, gold purchases and overseas travel at a time when capital inflows remain weak and global uncertainty is intensifying because of the ongoing West Asia conflict,” she said.

India imports over 80 percent of its crude oil requirements, leaving the economy acutely vulnerable to prolonged geopolitical instability. The West Asia war has already squeezed aviation, hospitality, ceramics, fertilisers and jewellery sectors through rising energy costs and disrupted shipping routes.