Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh has accused the central government of letting food inflation spiral out of control, stating that sharp price increases over the past month have squeezed middle-class and poor households. In a social media post, he highlighted that spice prices jumped ten to twenty-five percent in four weeks, citing specific increases for small cardamom, cumin, large cardamom, and mace. He added that pulses—including tur dal, chana dal, and urad—saw double-digit hikes, cooking oil rose by roughly ten percent, and the all-India average retail price of onions surged over eighty percent between June and September.
Ramesh argued that this inflation makes everyday pulses and vegetables unaffordable for lower-income families. Criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he questioned what happened to earlier promises of good days and demanded that the Centre take immediate corrective steps to lower essential commodity prices. The Bharatiya Janata Party has not issued a detailed rebuttal to the specific figures, though leaders have previously dismissed similar claims as selective use of data.