Wayanad, Keralam: Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday asserted that the government was accountable to the people for all its actions, including the issue of blending ethanol in petrol.
Speaking to reporters here, Vadra pointed out that people were paying extra for fuel and ethanol is being mixed in it.
"So, are they (government) not accountable for it?" she asked.
The Congress MP from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency said that the central government thinks it is not accountable to the people for anything.
"They think they can do what they want and people will not ask questions. When the people, especially the youth, ask questions, hold protests and demand answers, they try to shut them up by beating them up, putting them in jail and stopping agitations. That is not a democracy," she contended.
According to her, in a democracy, the government is always accountable, be it when prices go up or if there is any other problem.
"The government is accountable to the people for every single action it takes. That is what a democracy is according to our constitution," the MP said.
While Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has been raising serious concerns regarding ethanol blending at the national level, the Karnataka government recently claimed that its inspections found ethanol levels beyond the 20 per cent permissible limit in petrol at various outlets.
Subsequently, Keralam government carried out inspections at fuel outlets in four districts of the state on November 9 and collected samples for testing.
She also added that the BJP and RSS had spread falsehoods about her mother, former AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, for most of her life in the country and were now calling her statements made in a book false when she was speaking the truth.
She was referring to Gandhi's memoir released recently.
"For most of my mother's adult life in India, the BJP, RSS, and many others have said whatever they wanted to say about her. They have told lies, they have fabricated stories, they have completely invented things and she has been quiet. Now she is telling her story. She has a right to tell her story," the Wayanad MP asserted.
