In swipe at Centre, Rahul Gandhi says 'India looks a lot like Sri Lanka'

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at the Centre over rising inflation and unemployment and said India looks a "lot like Sri Lanka".

"Distracting people won't change the facts. India looks a lot like Sri Lanka," Gandhi said on Twitter.

He also shared graphs of unemployment, petrol price and communal violence showing similar images of India and Sri Lanka citing various sources including armed conflict location and event data project, Lok Sabha unstarred question, CMIE, Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell and Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

The first pair of graphs showed unemployment rising from 2017 in both countries. It peaks around 2020 and dips slightly the next year.

The second pair of graphs showed the rising in petrol prices from 2017 to 2021 and the third pair of graphs rising communal violence in both the countries during the same period.

Meanwhile, the crisis-hit Sri Lanka has received USD 160 Million from the World Bank and is looking at the possibility of using some of it to buy fuel, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament today, as protests continued in the country against the ongoing fuel and gas shortages caused by the economic crisis.

"160 million dollars has been received from the World Bank and a grant from the ADB (Asian Development Bank) is also expected," Wickremesinghe said.

He said the money received from the World Bank cannot be used to buy fuel.

"We are trying to see if we can use some of it for fuel purchases," he said.