Why don’t Indians trust the Modi government’s gas and petrol assurances?
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For the past few weeks, life for many Indians has been turned upside down by gas and petrol shortages caused by the US and Israeli war on Iran.
Cities across the country have seen long lines at liquified petroleum gas outlets and petrol pumps, with the police deployed in some places to maintain order. A host of industries, ranging from eateries to healthcare, have been hit.
In cities, labourers are facing difficulties finding work, bringing back dark memories of the 2020 Covid lockdown. In addition, India’s push to replace polluting firewood as a cooking fuel has seen a major setback as households are simply unable to procure gas cylinders.
Who is to blame for this chaos? If the head of India’s government is to be asked, it’s the Opposition. The Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed on Wednesday, is “continuously spreading rumours so that panic spreads across the country and people queue up outside petrol pumps and gas agencies and chaos ensues”.
Buck stops there
For the past 12 years, Indians have repeatedly witnessed the somewhat...