Rahul Gandhi says PM Modi ‘don’t buy gold for a year, WFH’ calls for ‘proof of failure’

New Delhi: congress leader Rahul Gandhi Monday launched scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi He urged citizens to postpone gold purchases, reduce fuel consumption and avoid traveling abroad, calling the appeal evidence a “failure”.“Yesterday, Modi asked the public to make sacrifices – don’t buy gold, don’t go abroad, use less petrol, reduce use of fertilizers and cooking oil, ride the metro, work from home. These are not sermons – but proof of failure,” Rahul Gandhi posted on X.

The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha said the call exposed the limitations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ten-year tenure.“For 12 years he has brought this country to a position where he now has to tell the public what to buy, what not to buy, where to go and where not to go. Each time, they put the blame on someone else so they could escape responsibility. Running the country is no longer within the purview of a compromised prime minister,” he added.Addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party rally in Hyderabad on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on the public to make a series of economic sacrifices, citing the ongoing conflict in West Asia and its pressure on India’s foreign exchange reserves.The Prime Minister urged citizens to reduce their petrol and diesel consumption, use metro services, carpool, switch to electric vehicles and work from home where possible. He also asked people to postpone gold purchases and overseas travel for a year, and reduce the use of cooking oil and fertilizers.“We have to save foreign exchange in any way,” Prime Minister Modi said at a rally, drawing parallels with behavioral changes during the Covid-19 pandemic. “During Covid-19 we have adopted working from home, virtual meetings, video conferencing and many other methods. We have become accustomed to them. Now they need to be restored.”The prime minister cast the measures as a national obligation during a global crisis, saying conflicts in West Asia had pushed up gasoline and fertilizer prices sharply and strained supply chains despite government intervention.