- 54 minutes ago
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by about 90 paise per litre on Tuesday, marking the second increase in fuel rates within a week.
Category
ЁЯЧЮ
NewsTranscript
00:02okay let's raise the big questions now fuel price hike is the government running out of options at
00:08the moment how high could fuel prices now go how can government control inflation those are some
00:16of the big questions we will raise today a question that every Indian is asking with that
00:20second fuel price hike that's come inside a week joining me on our political face-off today
00:26Supriya Srinet chairperson of the Congress's social media and digital platforms and a member
00:31of the CWC and national spokesperson and dr. Syed Zafar Islam national spokesperson and former MP
00:37of the Bharatiya Janata party okay let me start with you Zafar Islam ji first do you believe that
00:45there is an inevitability to what is happening we've had two fuel prices in a week and many fear that
00:52there could be more should the government take the people into confidence and tell them that look
00:57please be prepared for much higher fuel prices in the weeks ahead or will this be done by stealth
01:04well Rajdeep you have to don't have to count how many number of times the prices have been increased
01:10you have to see in absolute number how much it has been increased and then you compare with the rest
01:15of the world there the global oil shock every country in the world is experiencing it and see
01:22the impact what the other countries have passed on to the the their to their people and unlike them
01:28the government of India has absorbed all the shock and passed on very little marginals to to the
01:37consumer and to the people of this great country so 3.3 rupees 90 cents 90 paisa compared to what
01:45the
01:45other people is just barely 4.4 percent or something like that which has been increased in last five
01:50days compared to what has been increased in many other countries from 20 percent to 90 percent and
01:56including countries like America which has people were talking about that they have strategic reserve
02:0821 percent have been increased and so is in Japan so even if a poorer country like Pakistan like many
02:16others neighboring countries where they they have passed on all the all the costs to the consumer but
02:24and but India which because of the pro pro people governance model of the honorable prime minister
02:31government of India is absorbing over almost thousand crores every day and pass on the costs very
02:38little to the consumer because it's an evolving situation if there's a permanent ceasefire now
02:43permanent there's a permanent ceasefire maybe this hike will not be required but since it's an
02:51evolving situation where there's a lot of uncertainty in the global market there is a global oil shock and
02:56every country has to manage their finances and this is what the India has demonstrated the the inherent
03:02strength what the government had that is why if they're absorbing the costs and passing on very
03:07little to to to the consumer and and people are acknowledging that it's not something which is hidden
03:12the world is acknowledging that there is a problem instead of always this block block okay the americans are
03:17blocked the iranians block they're all engaging in fire every day and every night you are you are evolving
03:23this new situation so the to deal with this government of india is increasing very little purely because
03:29they know that situation may improve and if they okay i've heard you now zafar islam i've heard you very
03:36clearly i've heard you very clearly you're saying that the government of india you're comparing it with
03:41other countries in the world and you believe that we are not we are not passing on the entire burden
03:47on
03:47to consumers let's say like a neighboring pakistan which you has a 50 percent high we have a 4.1
03:53percent
03:53high you want to respond to that supriyashine because on the screen i am putting in the price rise in
03:59india
03:59versus what's happening in other countries of the world i had also put up a chart of which states have
04:04the highest fuel prices today and some of those states in fact all your congress rule states are also among
04:11the
04:11highest fuel price states at the moment because of duty structures and states how do you respond to what you've
04:16just
04:16heard particularly from zafar islam that don't blame india this is a global problem there are two parts
04:23to this answer that i would give a good evening to you my fellow panelists and all your viewers first
04:27my heart goes out at the kind of dishonesty the bjp brings to the whole oil price debate to begin
04:34with
04:35there are two or three things that i think needed to be placed on record nobody believes that when there
04:40is an oil crisis around the world india will be impacted but there's a dishonesty to that argument
04:47because the same argument could hold true when oil prices globally crashed to less than ten dollars a
04:55barrel during covert 2020 why did we not pass on the benefits to the common consumer we were taxing the
05:05common consumer we have collected the government of india has collected 39 lakh crore out of fuel taxes
05:11majority of that sequestered by the central government because that was special and additional excise
05:16not basic exercise so that's part one of the argument you have not shared the benefits unfair to now tell
05:23people share the burden how dishonest can you be you know if you believe that these small little heights will
05:30not add up in the last four days fuel prices are costly by four rupees in the last 19 days
05:35of may
05:35cng is costly by three rupees uh milk prices have gone up by two rupees per liter bread is costed
05:42today
05:42by five rupees look at the plight of the common people and also there is another dishonesty to the
05:48argument you know you're comparing yourself to the world let me give you other examples and these examples
05:53are important there are countries in the world that are giving relief to their consumers
05:58nepal has slashed fuel prices on petrol by two rupees on diesel by 12. australia actually reduced
06:05excise duty by 17 rupees on every liter of gasoline that they sell and they passed on this benefit
06:11directly to the consumer not to the oil marketing companies like us germany reduced price of petrol by 17
06:19and price of diesel by 19 rupees per liter and also great britain uk they have reduced they have given
06:26a respite of 100 pounds for every consumer as far as electricity is concerned so please don't make
06:32arguments that will not hold true for the common people and unlike zafar bhai and i'm not taking a
06:38swipe at him at all i am in up i'm an eastern up i'm in maharaj gunj and i can
06:43tell you the plight that
06:45people are facing on two fronts first there is scarcity and then there is price rajdi and this debate
06:51cannot be completed this debate is not fulfilling if you do not talk about the scarcity created by
06:59this government what were you doing why did you barter our energy security with the united states
07:05why did you stop buying the cheapest crude available in the market from russia today after the 16th of may
07:11you were prostrating before the united states to give you permission one minute one minute let me
07:15let me just make my argument i did not intervene it's only fair we have a decent argument let let
07:20viewers decide the reality is that the prime minister compromised india's energy security
07:26either because of epstein or because of adani or i don't know why but he had no business surrendering
07:31before the united states energy security which he really did we are a sovereign republic we should
07:36have decided where we buy fuel from the reality that you listened to america the reality that your
07:43failed foreign policy actually your failed foreign policy has resulted in people paying a price for
07:50petrol and diesel being costlier and a huge scarcity that everybody is witnessing in the market but that's
07:56the reality you cannot look away from that the state of hormuz has opened for many countries but not
08:01for us because of the foreign ma'am ma'am ma'am i've no ma'am i before i go
08:08to zafar islam i just want
08:10you to accept though one thing you accept that there was an inevitability over it we can argue why was
08:16the burden not passed on to consumers when global crude prices were low the government will say that
08:21was necessary so that you could spread the welfare benefits through their various welfare schemes that's
08:26the argument the government will give but i want to understand you accept what would you have done
08:31differently give me one thing the congress would have done differently if you were in government
08:35and then i'll go to zafar bhai there are two things one thing you would have done differently there are
08:40two things we would have done differently the first thing we would have done is we would have spoken
08:44truth to the people of this country who have elected us you are constantly lying to indians do not
08:51underestimate their intelligence take them into confidence tell them how big the crisis is
08:56the prime minister says cut down on petrol and diesel does three road shows in two days who's
09:01going to believe him all his ministers are putting out pictures of austerity measures walking and
09:06cycling the reality is that is done for one day for photo op and then everything goes back to normal
09:10and the car cakes come out that's the reality the prime minister tells you not to travel overseas
09:14because of forex crisis that's happening rajdeep we have to first tell people of this country
09:19what the truth is that's part one we would have told people the truth we would have shared the benefits
09:25we would have passed on the benefits of a benign crude regime and which is when people would have
09:31stood with us when we are passing on the troubles to them you cannot have it both ways okay whose
09:36benefit was this being used for the reality is that per capita income for india is one of the lowest
09:41in
09:41the region the reality is that indians 19 indians are committing suicides every day because of the economic
09:46crisis we are now facing a huge forex problem our our rupee is about to touch a hundred experts say
09:54150 is inevitable who are you talking about can i just can i just have it ma'am i asked
09:59you what are
09:59the okay i've heard you yeah i think zafar islam you deserve a response i think i think you need
10:06to
10:06zafar islam the question needs to be answered the everyone accepts i think any rational person would
10:13accept that when global crude prices are surging there will be pressure on any government to raise
10:18prices the government has done so however the question arises this government has had the benefit
10:23of low crude prices for much of the last 12 years but never passed on the benefit to the consumer
10:29and
10:30therefore the question arises when prices are low why didn't you pass on the benefit to the consumer
10:35at that time you use it for various schemes which many believe are electorally beneficial to you why
10:41don't you respond to that and settle this argument radhi let me respond to this first of all dhupriya
10:48srinadji is giving certificate to every nation that their foreign foreign policy was bad because they have
10:55increased the fuel prices in their country anyways in 2012 and in earlier during upa time when they
11:01increase the price they hide the fuel prices that time their policy foreign policy was great and
11:06that's why they had increased the prices at that time so it's a it's a notorious argument which i
11:11don't want to get into because everyone understands that is a politically motivated and it has it it has
11:16absolutely no truth having said that let me tell you about the 2020 and 2020 during covid time yes prices
11:23have crashed everywhere but you also have to understand there was no economic activity and there was no
11:29revenue for the government government had to take care of the people and that's why all the welfare
11:33scheme which had to be run at that point time and the philippines which had to be given to our
11:37citizens come government prioritize that and where the from where the money will come money has to come
11:42from some sources and this was a source where the government had no but even pre-covid sir zafar islam
11:48by even pre-covid sir even between 2016 and 20 when oil prices were low you did not pass on
11:55the benefit
11:55to consumers why allow me allow me to complete and that is what i'm saying that the the uh infrastructure
12:02which has been built in last 12 years is something which everyone uh uh recognized that the the world
12:08class infrastructure which was the need of the rah and that is something which has been demonstrated that
12:13it can be done and done by the government the scheme which has been run several schemes to safeguard
12:18the interest of the common man on the road and common man on the street their interests have been
12:23safeguarded by introducing various welfare schemes we actually wanted to uplift the society and that is
12:29what we have done that's why 23 crod people have actually been taken out of the poverty line second
12:34thing which is which you are saying in in terms of passing on the burden which she is saying i
12:40think they
12:40need to really do a back testing and understand what is the foreign policy or the local policy or the
12:46policy they had at that time at that point time during upi attack the maximum increased height i'm
12:52saying back here during it happened during upi attack and to hide this they issued a bond oil bond
12:59which actually ballooned to 3.2 lakh crod the liability for the government who they passed on this
13:05burden to the future generation this government doesn't do that this government's
13:09take care head-on take the situation worry about the citizens requirement and ensure that the
13:15citizens interest is being fully secured and safeguarded by the government of the day and do
13:20not pass on the burden to the next generation which they have done by having subsidy by having issued the
13:26oil bond until they are talking about the oil companies who has issued the oil bond and whose
13:32return of the oil bond was oil bond was issued to compensate the oil to compensate the oil
13:37marketing companies we have not done that okay you make a strong
13:41just a second okay you make okay you make a point sir yes just let me just complete all i'm
13:50saying
13:50that go ahead go ahead the impact is so steep yet the bar of the the burden which has been
14:00passed on to the
14:00consumer is very little because we are a pro-people government and pro-people governance model which
14:09has been in uh in place since 2014 2014 and honorable prime minister has always evaluated the situation
14:17now they have to save guard the country countries they have to save the nation's interest as well as
14:23the people's of the the interest of the people of this great country this is what we have done and
14:27that is why that is why everyone you made your zafar islam i gave you 10 seconds more your 10
14:34seconds is
14:34up i gave you your 10 seconds more your 10 seconds is up now no no you have to know
14:40okay
14:50i will listen please please no cross talk no cross talk please put zafar's voice down now supriya
14:59sinet please don't intervene you also have to be patient as he was my limited point you see we can
15:04compare governments when the upa was done as zafar islam says you all issued oil bonds now there are
15:10those who argue that caused heavy burden on the oil marketing companies today the petroleum minister
15:15says these companies are losing thousand crores per day they therefore at some stage had to uh pass
15:21on the burden in a way to the consumer you can't expect them to endlessly bleed if you want to
15:26compare
15:26the ups track record with that of the nda the fact is the nda on inflation has done reasonably well
15:33so let me first answer the question about oil marketing companies it is absolutely shameless
15:40of the oil minister to say oil marketing companies are losing money oil marketing companies have been
15:46set up by the government of india to cushion people as far as oil shocks are concerned to ensure that
15:52the
15:52poorest and the middle class don't suffer let me ask you a question the last quarter oil marketing
15:58companies recorded record profits record the highest ever profits did the same hardi puri come and say
16:05that we have recorded these profits because we did not pass on the benefits to the people of this country
16:09they increased excise 14 times they have decreased it only twice why whose side are you on are you
16:17even on the side of common people of this country and the fact that zafar islam believes that a four
16:23rupee hike in the last four days and many more to come it's very small and it's very minuscule tells
16:29you how disconnected they are from the ground i will give you a very rustic 10 second account of
16:34what i heard on the field today i was talking to somebody he's a farmer and he said you wait
16:39and watch
16:40june july when the farming season comes you wait and see what the cost of plowing will be you wait
16:46and
16:46see how much tractors will uh and then you will understand what will happen to farmers but i want
16:52to go back to the argument being made on upa versus the nda it's an important argument this argument
16:57needs to be rebutted 2012 when prices went up zafar islam ji your decision we took the decision as
17:05government of india we did not go to america please tell us where should we buy our crude from we
17:10did not
17:10go to any other country we acted responsibly like a sovereign took our own decision you take your own
17:17decisions we will stand by you you are not taking your decisions your decisions are being made in
17:21washington and as far as you know this argument this would love argument about welfare schemes are
17:27concerned which is why you were fleecing people when food oil had gone down to ten dollars a barrel
17:31why did you not use the pm cares fund which is not audited one doesn't know how much money there
17:36is
17:36everybody has contributed including some of these oil marketing companies including the chinese
17:41companies why did you not use that money then why are you not using that money to cushion people
17:45now you have to give me enough time one second please please wait okay i will i will i am
17:52not over
17:53yet i will let me make my last argument i will let you make my last argument my last argument
17:58you
17:58inherited rupee at 58 to a dollar you have taken it to 96 everybody knows this is headed to
18:05hundred dollar a hundred uh uh rupee a mark to a dollar what about that the reality is that you
18:12talk about oil bonds you have repaid only 45 000 crore rupees of that so stop crying foul on issues
18:19that you've not had to shoulder a burden on you have burdened the common people you have benefited the
18:25rich 16 lakh crores you can give emeers but middle class or
18:29i have heard you now yeah i've got to fade your voice also i have to hear both sides before
18:45i come
18:45to zafar islam to respond i just want to play what the prime minister had said when he was leader
18:49of the
18:49opposition and that's comes to my old point that where you stand depends on where you sit listen
18:54into what he said and then i'll get you zafar to respond three years ago report car ke kuchi gantome
19:27how do you how do you how do you respond zafar islam i know it's not
19:31easy to handle the situation at the moment but i want to understand supriyashine seems to suggest
19:37that this is a government which is taking its middle class voter for granted and seems to be
19:43according to her batting for the rich you will give waivers to the to the corporates but you will not
19:49give it to the common man how do you respond this is absolutely inaccurate statement and which is which
19:56she has made and you are also making it first of all they concocted stories and you had last time
20:05last
20:06time i was with you one of their spokesperson showed an ai generated photo which was absolutely wrong to
20:15show such thing and everyone recognized that it is the strategy of the congress party to concoct stories
20:22and backed it by air ai generated uh uh photos she is saying that there is a scarcity the image
20:29was ai
20:30generated the story was true the image was ai generated the story was true one of your bjp leaders in
20:37madhya padesh had taken out a large cavalcade but go ahead no no no no razhi please that was an
20:42ai
20:42generated photos and it was looking like that huge number of cavalcade cars were there in their cavalcade
20:47which was not there second thing which is i which i wanted to tell you that the oil marketing companies
20:54have absorbed costs they they gave relief to uh consumer 10 rupees a liter on petrol and diesel
21:01when the crisis started and today also they're absorbing the cost where many countries they cannot
21:08absorb the cost so they because of their mismanagement whatever their finances are bad that is they are
21:13the passing on the to the the burden to the consumers but we are absorbing the cost this
21:18government is a sensitive government their government for the people unlike you are absorbing the cost
21:24ahead of the election sir the elections got over on the just a minute sir until the 4th of may
21:29i never heard the government say any of this you are now suddenly the moment the election you could
21:34have done this during the election if it is really about global prices then you must do it market driven
21:42no no you are allowing her to complete uninterrupted yeah so allow me to complete
21:48and then no i'm not please go all i'm saying no no sir in you when you say that after
21:53the election
21:53during election there don't you know that the crisis of uh iran iran and u.s war one day it
22:01looks
22:02like that everything is over there's a complete and permanent ceasefire next day there's a statement
22:07coming coming and it it shocks the market every now and then we have evolving situation government
22:13in this situation cannot take at its end so they have they have absorbed the cost they have absorbed
22:18the cost they continue to absorb the cost and even now thousand crore absorbing the uh the company
22:25the oil market marketing companies are absorbing thousand crore a day every day and very little they
22:30have passed on because we feel there will be permanent solution and there will be permanent ceasefire
22:35ceasefire the prices the spot prices actually will come off significantly once the there is a
22:41permanent ceasefire even the future is high at the moment and this has crashed we have seen in the
22:46last few days it had crashed suddenly the spot prices when there was a uh indication there's a
22:52permanency so the the spot price that crashed it will crash again and the prices will not go up and
22:57the the benefits will benefits will definitely be passed on to the consumer but having said that two
23:03things which i want two things i want to do things i want to highlight there are there are leaders
23:10from
23:11opposition they are uh they are purposely giving misleading statement misleading stories that the
23:18the panic situation there is absolutely no panic anywhere in this country the fuel supply is there
23:23everyone is can easily go to the petrol station and buy petrol there is no there is no panic only
23:30panic
23:30she repeatedly she's saying in every channel it's a maharaj guy where the leader of the maharaj
23:35gun is she is sir you're saying there is no panic sir sir sir now sir i must intervene now
23:41sir i've heard sir you're saying there is no panic then why is there a call for no no one
23:45minute
23:46sir if there is no panic there was no need then to call for austerity and cut down on foreign
23:50travel
23:51oh my god there was no panic was not done in consumers it was done oh i mean i'm why
23:57isn't that
23:58panic isn't that a panic reaction i'm i'm really amused with this question the radhi because
24:03if government think the sensitive government uh uh inform inform its citizens there is a crisis global
24:13crisis we must take some precaution is this a sign of worry or is this a sign of panic or
24:21is this a sign
24:21of a sincere government giving suggestion to each citizen okay i've heard you that is that this is the
24:28problem okay i've heard that okay i've heard you sir final final word from you supriya shinen because
24:41as i showed at the outset there are congress ruled states which are also ensuring the burden passed on
24:46to consumers none of those states are going to reduce their duties and many many will accept that
24:51that's the only way the government can raise resources and revenues at a time like this is any
24:55of your government going to actually not pass on the burden to consumers this is the reality
25:00why not accept it i will just come to that and i will answer that question because that question
25:05deserves to be answered because there are certain figures that need to be pointed out for people to
25:09know what's happening but zafar islam you amaze me when none other than the prime minister of this
25:15country goes public and says that people of this country should cut down on consumption not just of
25:21petrol and diesel but cooking oil when he tells people to stop buying gold when he tells people
25:27to stop foreign travel is that not room for panic and if this is not panic then why are all
25:32your
25:32ministers to please wait wait i did not speak in the question why are all your ministers please
25:37you are in a panic situation because you're in a position no he's calling it precaution he's calling
25:42it precaution zafar i've heard you zafar don't she didn't interview but he's saying this is a way to
25:48he's cautioning people he's cautioning people so if he's cautioning people then why are all his
25:55ministers and mps lining up on bicycles and on foot and walking to their offices this is nothing but this
26:02is a government that presses the panic button and even that is being done with stealth i will go
26:07back to saying the same point can zafar islam today vouch for the fact that this is the last
26:13price hike we are going to see or will he say a 20 rupee price hike will come but it
26:18will be broken
26:18up into 90 paisa into 80 paisa into 70 paisa into 60 paisa you can fool some of the people
26:25no no no zafar islam cannot predict what happens in the state of hormuz zafar islam cannot predict ma'am
26:31what happens in the state of hormuz with global oil prices you answer my question
26:35government cut duties on fuel let me do my anchoring please listen to me rajdeep while
26:43answering your questions zafar islam gave away a very important point he said when some settlement
26:48was on the anvil prices had crashed let me turn around and ask the question when global crude crashed
26:54for two weeks did you pass on the benefits right now to consumers and the answer to that is a
26:59resounding
27:00no they did not pass on the benefits to the consumer even when global crude had just crashed
27:05forget about six years back forget about covid now when the settlement was reached and it looked like
27:11peace was on the anvil they did not pass on the benefits i want to make one important point and
27:15this
27:15will answer your question on opposition rule states who runs the government in west bengal today the bjp
27:21and guess what the most hike has come as far as petrol and diesel prices are concerned in kolkata the
27:29capital of west bengal three rupees 29 paisa on petrol and of course today it has gone up by 96
27:35this is unfair it is unfair mumbai mumbai another metro where you are in government prices went up
27:40by 3 rupees 14 paisa prices went up by 3 rupees 14 paisa
27:4515 may 91 paisa today they've also gone up prices went up they've also gone up in congress
27:54ruled states like karnataka okay i've heard both sides i've heard the answer to that is what is
28:03the price in delangana okay i've heard both sides i've put it on air zafar islam all of it is
28:13on air
28:13i've heard both sides i think the viewers have heard both sides and let the viewers decide let the viewers
28:19decide whether the government has an inevitability about this price rise or whether it is putting
28:24an unfair burden on consumers but a part of this debate as i appreciate both my guests is austerity
Comments