PM austerity appeal row: BJP hits back at Rahul Gandhi; cites Jawaharlal Nehru speech

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Published - May 11, 2026 04:44 pm IST - New Delhi Amit Malviya. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday (May 11, 2026) hit back at Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his criticism of the Prime Minister's austerity appeal amid the West Asia conflict, saying the Congress party's politics has remained confined to power and not nation-building. The ruling party's response came after Mr. Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks — about measures suggested to citizens to cope with the West Asia conflict's impact — saying that the "compromised PM" is no longer capable of running the country. The Congress leader said the Prime Minister's words were "evidence of failure". In a post on X, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said Mr. Modi has not asked people to make sacrifices but urged them to make conscious choices in the national interest, such as conserving energy, promoting indigenous products, preserving foreign exchange and strengthening self-reliance. "But this is precisely the Congress party's problem. Any call for public participation in the national interest sounds like 'preaching' to them, because their politics has remained confined to power, not nation-building," he said. Referring to the impact of the West Asia conflict, Mr. Malviya said every global crisis affects the entire world and cited India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to counter Mr. Gandhi's attack. "If appealing to the public to fulfil its responsibility is considered a 'failure', then was your beloved Nehru also a 'compromised PM'?" he asked. "Nehru himself had said that when wars break out in other countries, their impact is felt in India in the form of inflation. Was that also an 'excuse' then, or was it considered responsible leadership at the time?" Mr. Malviya said. He also shared an old purported video of Mr. Nehru in which the former Prime Minister can be heard saying that the country is impacted when wars take place in countries such as Korea or America. He added that responsible leadership tells people the truth and appeals for collective participation in facing challenges. Emphasising that the Centre is trying to shield people from the adverse impact of the West Asia conflict, Mr. Modi on Sunday (May 10, 2026) called for judicious use of fuel, postponement of gold purchases and foreign travel, among other measures, to strengthen the economy. Addressing a rally organised by the Telangana BJP in Hyderabad, he suggested reducing petrol and diesel consumption, using metro rail services in cities, carpooling, increased use of electric vehicles, utilising railway services for parcel movement and working from home to conserve foreign exchange amid the crisis in West Asia. Stressing the need to save foreign exchange due to the crisis, Mr. Modi called for postponing the purchase of gold and foreign travel for one year. He called for reduction in edible oil consumption, lowering the use of chemical fertilizers and promoting natural farming and Swadeshi products to save foreign exchange and make the country self-reliant. "Yesterday, Modi Ji called upon the public to make sacrifices... These are not words of counsel; they are evidence of failure," Mr. Gandhi said in an X post in Hindi. "Over a span of 12 years, the country has been brought to such a juncture that the public now has to be told what to buy and what not to buy, where to go and where not to go," Mr. Gandhi said. “Time and again, they shift the responsibility onto the public to evade their own accountability,” he added. Narendra Modi / Rahul Gandhi / bjp / West Asia / politics / politics (general) / war / unrest, conflicts and war Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in

PM austerity appeal row: BJP hits back at Rahul Gandhi; cites Jawaharlal Nehru speech

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PM austerity appeal row: BJP hits back at Rahul Gandhi; cites Jawaharlal Nehru speech

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