May 15, 2026: Just days after the 2026 Assembly Election results and PM Modi’s “save fuel” rhetoric, the government, which had long denied an impending economic crisis, has increased petrol and diesel prices by Rs. 3 per litre. The economic crisis has been deepened by the government's foreign and economic policy failures - especially the mortgaging of the country's foreign policy and trade interests to the US-Israel axis. And now the government is busy shifting the burden of the crisis onto ordinary people.
As during COVID, when people were left to fend for themselves amid suffering and collapsing systems, the government is once again imposing austerity while avoiding accountability. Instead, people are told to save fuel, avoid buying gold, and cut foreign travel, forcing them to pay for a crisis that is the direct product of the BJP government’s flawed policies and strategic failures on all fronts.
The government is citing rising global crude oil prices and the West Asia conflict to justify the fuel hike. Yet, for years, people have borne the burden of heavy taxation on petroleum products, while the benefits of falling international oil prices were never passed on to them. And now, to protect the profits of oil companies, the Modi government is shifting the burden of the crisis onto ordinary people.
We strongly condemn the fuel price hike, which will intensify inflation, increase the prices of essential commodities, and severely impact the lives and livelihoods of the people. The consequences of any fuel price increase will extend across sectors, including agriculture and transport, further worsening the economic distress faced by millions. The warning signs of the deepening economic crisis are already visible through LPG shortages, restaurant closures, large-scale migration of workers, and rising unemployment. Across the country, workers are facing skyrocketing inflation and are being pushed to come to the streets in the struggle for survival wages, as a consequence of the Modi government’s cronyism and its surrender to the imperialist diktat.
The government must immediately revoke the hike, end the policy of deregulated market-linked fuel pricing, regulate fuel prices to alleviate the growing suffering of the people, and take urgent measures to arrest the unfolding economic disaster.
-- Central Committee, CPI(ML) Liberation
