Raj Thackeray questions PM’s austerity plea over poll campaign fuel consumption

MNS president Raj Thackeray on Tuesday asked if austerity was meant to be practiced only by common people, and flagged the fuel consumption during the recent election campaigns where thousands of cars were used and roadshows were conducted.

In a post on Facebook after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an appeal to people to reduce fuel consumption and use public transport among other things, Thackeray said the prime minister and senior leaders continue to travel across the country with massive convoys.

“They also hold roadshows, use helicopters, receive flower showers, and conduct extravagant political campaigns,” the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief added. “Will the prime minister admit that ‘such political excesses were our mistake, and all of us including me will not repeat them’? Why should the common man suffer for your mistakes? Is austerity meant only for citizens and never for the political class?” Thackeray asked.

Crude prices touched these levels during the 2008 financial crisis, the Arab Spring of 2011, during 2013-14 phase when the BJP aggressively attacked the UPA over domestic fuel prices, and again during the OPEC production cuts in 2022-23, Thackeray said.

“The PM asked people to reduce fuel consumption, but why didn’t this wisdom emerge during the massive election campaigns involving thousands of vehicles, endless roadshows and the transportation of lakhs of supporters across states like West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala? That itself would have burnt crores of litres of petrol and diesel,” he said.