New Delhi, July 15 (Agency) The Congress on Friday slammed the Centre over falling rupee and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘silence’ over the same. Taking a dig at Modi, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi in a tweet said, “The country is in the throes of despair… These are your own words, aren’t they, Prime Minister? The more noise you used to make at that time, the more ‘silent’ you are today seeing the rupee’s depreciation.” “The rupee is falling against the dollar. Employment is declining… The income of the people of the country is decreasing. But, in the Prime Minister’s Office, the list of (banned) words through which you can question or protest against these is increasing,” party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi wrote in a tweet. Congress’ media department head Jairam Ramesh in a tweet said, “Modi is dangerous for Rupee.”
Earlier in the day, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said falling rupee will further ‘worsen’ inflation. “A falling rupee impacts every citizen of the country. It is going to raise prices further. Prices of essential items like gas, cooking gas, diesel, petrol will be dearer. Electronic items are going to be very costly. It will also affect the domestic household budget,” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said at a press conference at the party headquarters here. Attacking the ruling dispensation, she said, “The government has to wake up and look into it because people are reeling under price rise. The government, as always, seems directionless.” “Before 2014, Narendra Modi falsely claimed that a ‘strong PM’ is necessary for the strengthening of the rupee, has proven to be most toxic and harmful for the currency. The PM made the rupee weakest in history. Rupee has depreciated more than seven per cent in the last six months,” Shrinate said. The biggest reason for the fall of the rupee is the failed economy and unbridled inflation, she asserted. Shrinate also claimed that the previous Congress-led UPA government and the former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan together handled the rupee with a multipronged approach.