NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Thursday attacked the Modi government over the steep rise in sugar prices, alleging a “Rs 36,000-crore sugar price scam” that has left ordinary consumers paying the price while hoarders and black-marketeers profit.
Surjewala said sugar prices had surged from around Rs 45 per kg to Rs 70-Rs 75 per kg in August alone, turning the sweetness of the festive season into a bitter experience for households.
Addressing a press conference here, Surjewala claimed that around 12 million tonnes of sugar would be consumed between August and November, with festival-season monthly consumption rising to nearly three million tonnes. If consumers are forced to pay an additional Rs 30 per kg, he said, the resulting burden would amount to nearly Rs 36,000 crore.
He alleged that the benefit of this price escalation would accrue to “sugar profiteers and black-marketeers”, questioning whether such a situation could occur without political protection or administrative failure.
The Rajya Sabha MP drew a parallel between higher prices of essential commodities and what he called the government’s purportedly unconventional approach to tackling social problems. He sarcastically suggested that costlier petrol and diesel would reduce obesity, higher cooking-gas prices would encourage people to eat less, and expensive cooking oil would somehow protect consumers from heart disease.
Surjewala also linked the sugar shortage to the government’s ethanol-blending policy, alleging that 32 per cent of the sugarcane complex—comprising sugar, B-heavy molasses and C-heavy molasses—was diverted towards ethanol production between November 2025 and July 2026. He said that this diversion reduced the quantity of sugar available for direct consumption, accusing the government of prioritising its E20 policy while consumers were left to pay higher prices.
“Modi government loots the praise for E20 and the people bear the consequences,” he alleged.
He also recalled his government’s sugar subsidy programme, saying that eligible consumers earlier received 500 grams of sugar per person per month through ration shops at Rs 13.50 per kg, benefiting around 40 crore people. He claimed that the government bore a subsidy of Rs 18.50 per kg under the scheme before it was discontinued in 2017.
Surjewala also took a sarcastic dig at what he described as BJP leaders’ attempts to justify rising prices as a “masterstroke”. Turning to sugar prices, he jibed that sugar had now been made expensive to protect people from diabetes—while joking that ethanol had effectively “added” sugar to petrol.
