Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal has criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the rupee’s sharp fall, linking currency weakness to rising import costs and pressure on the poor.

Independent Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal on Saturday launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, questioning his silence as the rupee slipped to a record low against the US dollar.

Referring to earlier political debates on currency depreciation, Sibal said the Prime Minister was quiet now because he had once criticised the previous UPA government on the same issue. “The silence is political,” Sibal remarked, suggesting that the rupee’s fall exposes what he described as inconsistencies in the government’s economic narrative.

Explaining his broader criticism, Sibal said a Union Budget should fundamentally aim to reduce hardship and improve welfare by allocating resources toward the most underprivileged. He argued that the present challenge lies in limited government resources, which he attributed to the absence of surplus creation over the past eleven years.

Drawing attention to the currency slide, Sibal pointed out that the rupee has weakened from around 63 per dollar when Modi took office to about 92 now. He said this depreciation has made imports significantly more expensive, including crude oil, manufactured goods, medical equipment, telecom hardware and agricultural inputs like fertilisers.

According to Sibal, the burden of higher import costs ultimately falls on ordinary citizens, especially the poor, who face rising prices and limited job opportunities in an economy he described as import-dependent rather than export-driven.

Analysis: Sibal’s remarks tap into a wider public concern linking currency weakness to everyday costs. With inflation-sensitive items closely tied to imports, the rupee’s slide is increasingly becoming a political issue rather than just a market metric. This assessment reflects analytical opinion; all factual details above are drawn from the original content.