Rahul Gandhi shared a set of six graphics, three each for India and Sri Lanka.
Rahul Gandhi today compared India to crisis-hit Sri Lanka in a tweet attacking the government over the economy and shared what appeared to be similar graphs for the two countries for unemployment, fuel prices and communal violence.
"Distracting people won't change the facts. India looks a lot like Sri Lanka," the Congress leader posted, sharing a set of six graphics, three each for India and Sri Lanka.
The graphs show unemployment rising from 2017 in both countries, peaking around 2020- the year India imposed a lockdown to fight the coronavirus- and dipping slightly the next year.
The second pair of graphs compares petrol prices in India and Sri Lanka, on the rise since 2017 and soaring around 2021. The third set of graphs shows communal violence rising sharply in 2020-21 in both countries.
The post attributes the data to the Armed Conflict location and Event Data Project, Lok Sabha unstarred questions, CMIE, Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, Central Bank of Sri Lanka and CEYPETCO (Ceylon Petroleum Corporation).
Rahul Gandhi and the Congress have been targeting the government over fuel prices, inflation and rising unemployment and have said earlier that India is going the Sri Lanka way.
Sri Lanka is struggling with an unprecedented economic crisis that has led to a critical shortage of foreign exchange in the country, caused spiraling inflation and shortage of essential supplies and brought thousands onto the streets in protest. The island nation is facing acute food and electricity shortages and is neck-deep in recession attributed to the foreign exchange crisis caused by a clampdown on tourism during Covid. Rising oil prices and populist tax cuts have exacerbated Lanka's economic mess.
Violence between pro- and anti-government factions and the police left nine dead and more than 300 injured last week in Sri Lanka. Mahinda Rajapaksa then resigned as Prime Minister.