NEW DELHI: The rising price of fuel has hurt the Indian economy in general and low earners in particular and while past governments have usually cut fuel taxes when international oil prices risen, the Modi鈥檚 administration has so far blamed global factors, such as Turkey鈥檚 economic crisis.
As Indians鈥� anger grows over record fuel prices, the ruling party is getting advice on social media to seek lessons in mathematics and graphic design after it posted a bar-chart graphic that showed fuel prices lower than in prior years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing criticism for not doing enough to cut fuel taxes that account for more than a third of retail petrol and diesel prices, which have soared to record highs this month.
Twitter users on Tuesday derided Modi鈥檚 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the graphic, which showed the price of petrol in New Delhi, the capital, at 80.7 rupees a liter, while using an arrow showing a drop of 13 percent, rather than a rise, to compare it to a price of 71.4 rupees four years ago.
Titled 鈥淭ruth of Hike,鈥� the graphic included Modi鈥檚 picture and used four bars to show petrol price rises since 2004, but represented the current, higher price with a smaller bar.
The post was retweeted 2,100 times, attracted 3,200 comments and figured on primetime news shows after it was posted late on Monday, becoming the butt of jokes on social media, with some users questioning how 80 rupees could be less than 70.
Amit Malviya, the chief of the BJP鈥檚 information technology cell, said the graphic was not being interpreted correctly and was aimed only at showing that the 13 percent increase since 2014 was lower than in previous years.
鈥淚t may sound paradoxical, but that is what it is,鈥� Malviya told Reuters.
Twitter users were unconvinced.
Zaineb Hakim joked on the social network, 鈥淏ased on this graph, you are all entitled to a full refund from the mathematics department of the school you graduated from, assuming you did attend one.鈥�
Another user, Jas Oberoi, wrote, 鈥淢odiji needs to spend taxpayers鈥� money on a better infographic provider. This is outrageous,鈥� referring to the prime minister with a honorific suffix.
Past governments have usually cut fuel taxes when international oil prices shot up, but Modi鈥檚 administration has so far blamed global factors, such as Turkey鈥檚 economic crisis.
The fuel price hike has also furnished ammunition for the opposition Congress party to criticize Modi ahead of general elections next year. On Monday, protests against the high prices shut down many businesses, government offices and schools.
The Congress countered the BJP鈥檚 graphic with its own, showing a crying Bollywood actor looking at the graphic and retweeting inverted versions of the BJP chart.