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Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Congress, criticised the Modi administration on Tuesday for imposing a tax on gasoline and diesel despite the fact that the price of crude oil has been declining globally. He claimed that although the government has collected Rs 38.89 lakh crore since 2014, it has “squeezed” the states’ rightful share by not sharing this with them.

In an X post, Kharge said, “The Modi government’s ‘Cooperative federalism’ = CESSation of federalism.” He said that the Modi administration increased the federal excise tax on fuel and diesel by Rs 2 apiece, even though global crude oil prices had dropped to a 47-month low.

According to him, the Modi administration would get a staggering Rs 28,000 crore from this Rs 2 central excise charge alone, in addition to Rs 1.47 lakh crore from the whole petrol and diesel cess this year. He said that despite the states’ persistent demands for a larger portion of the divisible pool from the Union government, none of the states, even those headed by the BJP, would get a single paisa from this cess.

By taxing fuel, gasoline and petroleum goods, the Modi administration has raised Rs 38.89 lakh crore between 2014 and December 2024.

The Congress chairman said, “The Union government has passed on the burden of Rs 1 lakh crore in revenue forgone in giving a tax rebate to personal income tax up to Rs 12 lakh slab announced in the Budget 2025-26, instead of following the model of ‘Team India’ propagated by PM Modi.” He said that the Modi administration would not spend the Rs 5.7 lakh crore that has been earned via different cesses and levies between 2019 and 2020 (till March 2026). In his article, Kharge said, “The Modi government is busy squeezing the rightful share of the states, but this could have easily passed on to the states.”