New Delhi, Dec 07 (ANI): DMK MP Dr. Kanimozhi NVN Somu. File. Photo Credit: ANI Photo Via Sansad TV
On Tuesday (February 10, 2026), the second day of the Union Budget debate, opposition members in the Rajya Sabha raised the issue of rising prices and said the Union government had failed to address it. In response, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that unlike during the tenure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), inflation was curbed by the Narendra Modi government and was no longer debated in Parliament.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi NVN Somu compared the price of gold, petrol, diesel, cooking gas and the value of the rupee against the dollar in 2014 and 2026. The prices of basic commodities have skyrocketed in the last few years and several products were beyond the reach of common people, Ms. Somu said.
“This government has failed to create demand despite the Economic Survey’s focus on domestic consumption,” she said, adding that the Center had betrayed the people by pushing anti-labour policies and ignoring farmers’ demand for a statutory minimum support price. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman turned a blind eye to Tamil Nadu, Ms. Somu said.
Shiv Sena MP Milind Murli Deora, who presented the trade deals India has entered into with the European Union, the US and the UK, said developed countries would not have signed a deal with India if it was a “dead economy”.
“Some people overseas, and more importantly here, have had the willful ignorance to call our economy dead,” Mr Deora said, apparently criticizing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent comment. “If India’s economy is dead, how is India the fastest growing major economy in the world? How does UPI process over 70 million transactions a day, making India a global leader in real-time digital payments?” said Mr. Deora.
BJP’s Surendra Singh Nagar said the Center had curbed inflation and that was the reason why Parliament no longer discussed the price hike. There was double-digit inflation under the UPA government and the situation has improved under the Narendra Modi government, Mr. Nagar said.
Pointing to various reports of widening inequality in the country, Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy warned of social upheaval if the government did not address it. “We have never seen such a skyrocketing inequality between the rich, the super-rich, the upper middle class, the middle class and the poor. If the situation is not brought under control, I fear the day is not too far when the country is plunged into social upheaval, as some of our neighboring countries have seen recently,” Mr Roy said.
The government claimed the economy was growing and investment had arrived, but youth unemployment was rising, real wages were stagnant and “income inequality is the highest since colonial times,” Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) lawmaker Manoj Jha said. “Unemployment continues to be the biggest challenge. If this continues, the demographic dividend would become a demographic liability,” Mr Jha said.
Published – 10 Feb 2026 21:48 IST