People chanting Arhar Modi' but PM silent on price rise: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government over the issue of rising prices of essential commodities on Thursday in Lok Sabha.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley later replied to Rahul’s charge by stating inflation was under control and that he expected it go down further with the good monsoon.

In his speech, Rahul Gandhi said: "Two months ago, the NDA celebrated its 'happy birthday party', even Bollywood stars came from Mumbai to take part in the celebrations. The programme was called 'Ek Nayi Subah'. Prime Minister spoke about 'Swachh Bharat', 'Make in India'. He said thousands of youth have got jobs through the 'Make in India' initiative. But I never heard him talk about price rise even once."

Continuing his dig at Modi, Rahul said, "He never spoke of potatoes even once, he never spoke of tomatoes even once. You can make false claims on 'Startup India', 'Make in India' but not on rising prices. Why are you not talking of price rise?"

Read: India in talks with Myanmar, Africa for pulses import to check prices

A murmur of protest broke out in the House from NDA leaders, but Rahul did not stop his tirade.

"Mr Modi had told the nation to not make him the Prime Minister, but to make him a security guard. Today, loot is taking place right under the nose of that security guard. He has become a big man now. He has become the Prime Minister of the country. Why would he do the job of a security guard anymore? Make as many false promises as you want Mr Modi but give this House a date as to when the price of Dal will come down in the market," Rahul said.

Rahul ended his speech by saying that people were chanting a new slogan -- ‘Arhar Modi’ -- instead of ‘Har Dar Modi’.

Last week, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had targetted the government on price rise and asked party MPs to be aggressive and hold the government and its ministers accountable for it.

Picking holes in the government's claims of economic growth, she had said: "When it comes to growth and GDP figures that they tout, questions on their veracity are raised even by their own party leaders. BJP blocked every important FDI initiative of the UPA government. Yet now it has put in place a free-for-all policy even in sensitive areas like defence.