Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged citizens to put “nation first duty above comfort” as India faces economic pressure from the ongoing West Asia conflict and rising fuel prices.

Addressing a Telangana BJP rally in Hyderabad, Modi announced seven public appeals aimed at conserving fuel, saving foreign exchange and strengthening the economy during the global crisis.

The Prime Minister urged people to:

• Prefer work from home wherever possible

• Avoid buying gold for one year

• Reduce petrol and diesel consumption and use public transport

• Cut down the use of cooking oil

• Reduce dependence on chemical fertilizers and adopt natural farming

• Choose Swadeshi products over foreign brands

• Avoid foreign travel for one year

Modi said measures such as carpooling, metro travel, electric vehicles and railway parcel transport could help reduce fuel consumption and ease pressure on the economy.

However, the Congress strongly criticised the Prime Minister’s remarks, accusing the Centre of making ordinary citizens bear the cost of policy failures.

Congress leader K. C. Venugopal said the government had failed to ensure India’s energy security despite the conflict continuing for months.

“Three months into the Iran-US war and PM Modi is still clueless about ensuring India’s energy security,” Venugopal said in a post on X.

The Congress leader further described the Prime Minister’s appeals as “shameless, reckless and downright immoral,” arguing that instead of asking people to sacrifice comforts, the government should have created contingency plans to protect the economy from global disruptions.

The Opposition also alleged that the Centre was effectively shifting the burden of the international crisis onto common citizens rather than addressing structural economic and energy challenges at the policy level.