As Rahul Gandhi joins opposition criticism on hunger index, a dig at Sitharaman

A day after the central government rejected the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2022 that ranked the country 107 among 121 nations, several opposition leaders criticised the response. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi - who has been holding public meetings constantly amid the grand old party’s “Bharat Jodo Yatra” - took a jibe at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in his comment.

“India stands at 107th spot among 121 countries when it comes to hunger and malnutrition. Now the Prime Minister and his ministers would say - ‘The hunger in India is not growing, rather other nations are not hungry’,” he tweeted in Hindi.

“For how long would the RSS-BJP mislead the public and weaken the nation?” he asked. Without naming Sitharaman, he was referring to the union minister’s comment in the United States that “the rupee was not sliding but the dollar was strengthening.” In response to a question, she said: “Indian rupee has been performing much better than many emerging markets.” However, the comment drew sharp responses from the leaders of rival parties.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, the central government rebuffed the hunger index report. “Misinformation seems to be the hallmark of the annually released Global Hunger Index,” the women and child development ministry stated.

“A consistent effort is yet again visible to taint India’s image as a nation that does not fulfil the food security and nutritional requirements of its population,” it underlined.

Many opposition leaders posted their response on Twitter. "Achhe Din and Amrit Kaal for a select few . Double engine disaster for rest of India. Thanks Modi Ji for taking India to new lows,” Telangana minister KT Rama Rao wrote, hitting out at Prime Minister Narerendra Modi’s call for the BJP government in states and the Centre.

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi shared a report and asked: “The Global Hunger Index ranked India at 107/121. Modi govt called the index “misinformation”, and part of a “consistent effort’’ to “taint India’s image”. This report 👇is based on Modi govt’s own data, is this also a conspiracy to taint India’s image? (sic)”

Congress's KC Venugopal tweeted: "In 2013, India was ranked 63rd in the Global Hunger Index. Now in 2022, we’ve slipped to the 107th position in a list of 121 countries. This is pathetic! Is this what Modi meant when he said ‘Na Khaunga, Na Khane Dunga?"