RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav launched a sharp attack on the Modi-led NDA government on Saturday, May 23, 2026, accusing it of raising CNG, petrol, and diesel prices again and warning of severe economic consequences for ordinary citizens, migrant workers, and small businesses.

Context

Posting in Hindi on X, Yadav alleged that the central government had raised fuel prices by lagbhag 5 rupaye (approximately Rs 5) over the preceding 10 days — amounting to 50 paise per day — and warned that further hikes were still to come. He characterised the NDA as a janvirodhī pūnjīparast ('anti-people, pro-capitalist') administration that funnels benefits to private companies regardless of whether crude oil is cheap or expensive.

Yadav drew a pointed comparison with 2014, the year the NDA first came to power, arguing that while global crude prices are now lower than they were then, domestic petrol and diesel prices have roughly doubled. He predicted that the hikes would trigger severe inflation, job losses in the private sector, reverse migration of workers, a contraction of small industries, and rising poverty and unemployment.

Policy Backdrop

Indian retail fuel prices are built from international crude costs layered with central excise duties, state VAT, and dealer margins. The NDA government deregulated diesel prices in 2014 and introduced a daily dynamic pricing mechanism in 2017, linking pump rates more directly to global benchmarks — though central tax adjustments have repeatedly been used to manage both revenue and inflation.

Opposition parties, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), have consistently contrasted current pump prices with 2014 levels when global crude was trading higher, arguing that consumers have not benefited proportionately from periods of low international prices. This critique has surfaced in multiple state election cycles since 2014, and Yadav's post follows the same well-established line of attack.

Stakeholders and Impact

Yadav specifically named migrant workers, small industries, and the rural poor as those who would bear the heaviest burden of sustained fuel-price increases. Higher fuel costs feed directly into transport and logistics expenses, raising the cost of goods and squeezing margins for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that are already sensitive to input-cost pressures.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly also turned the post into a broader political indictment, accusing the ruling dispensation of prioritising 'nafrat ka karobaar, bhashanbazi, reels aur entertainment' ('the business of hatred, rhetoric, reels, and entertainment') over substantive governance on jobs, agriculture, education, health, and the economy. He alleged the government's real focus remained on 'Hindu-Muslim, mandir-masjid, gaay-gobar' and renaming places rather than economic management.

What's Next

With Bihar assembly elections on the horizon, fuel prices and economic distress are expected to remain central campaign themes for the INDIA alliance, of which the RJD is a key member. Any move by the central government — through a GST Council decision or a revision of central excise duties — to moderate fuel prices could blunt the opposition's narrative. Conversely, further hikes would amplify the kind of public anger Yadav is seeking to channel. The RJD's ability to translate economic grievance into electoral mobilisation in Bihar will be closely watched in the months ahead.