Rajnath Singh says inflation is not an issue in 2019 polls, credits Modi on economy

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday that inflation was not an issue in the ongoing Lok Sabha election because the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had kept prices under control. He was speaking at an election rally in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh.

What Rajnath Singh said

Singh told the rally that price rise had been an election issue in almost every poll in India’s history. He recalled a popular slogan that linked the arrival of Congress governments with back-breaking inflation: “Congress sarkar aayi hai, kamartod mehengai layi hai”.

According to Singh, 2004 and 2019 were the two elections in which inflation did not figure among the issues. He said that the governments of Atal Bihari Vajpayee before 2004 and of Narendra Modi before 2019 had both managed the economy well and acted against corruption.

He compared India with its neighbour, claiming that Pakistan’s inflation rate was 10-12 percent while India’s was 2-3 percent. The government, he said, had not allowed inflation to cross the border into India.

The Mandi contest

The Home Minister was campaigning for Ram Swaroop Sharma, the sitting BJP MP from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat. Mandi and the other three Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh were scheduled to vote on May 19, and votes were to be counted on May 23.

What happened next

Votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha election were counted on 23 May 2019. The BJP won 303 of the 543 seats and the Congress 52, and Narendra Modi was sworn in for a second term as Prime Minister on 30 May 2019.

See also: Lok Sabha members

Originally published on 17 May 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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