Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi under fire in parliament for runaway prices of essentials

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Monday came under heavy criticism in parliament for his alleged failure to control the price hike of essential commodities, with some MPs even calling for his resignation.

Gonoforum MP Mokabbir Khan fired the first shot against Tipu Munshi during the discussion on the proposed cut motion on budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Commerce in the budget for FY2023-24.

Jatiya Party MPs also criticised the commerce minister for the rising prices of daily products.

Rustam Ali Faraji of Jatiya Party said in the discussion on the retrenchment proposal, "What does the monitoring cell of the ministry do?"

"Such a big ministry. If the minister does not have dynamism, then the price will increase. If only one person works and everyone sleeps, then the country will not run. Market syndicates should be broken up. It is certainly possible if desired. But if you think the business belongs to me, then it is sad for the country and its people."

Jatiya Party's Shamim Haider Patwari said that even though the commodity prices have decreased in global markets in the last few months, it is not affecting the country.

"Inflation in Bangladesh was 6%; now it seems to be 10%. It is growing. Inflation is eating away at people's income. Due to inflation, soap and bread are all getting smaller," he said.

He mentioned that making the government budget and household budget are not the same thing.

He said that the budget of government is decreasing, and due to this, rice, pulses, oil, chicken size, and meat pitches are getting smaller.

"The economy of Bangladesh is trapped in a vicious cycle of inflation. The government should take steps to overcome this," he said.

"There are syndicates. There is no doubt about it. Those syndicates are powerful. But are they stronger than the government? I don't think they can be stronger than the government. If there is a syndicate within the government, it must be identified," he said.

He said that the minister has a vast business. "He is a successful businessman. I believe that if he is given the freedom to act, then he can definitely control it," he said.

Gonoforum MP Mokabbir Khan said that the most unsuccessful ministry of the current government is the Ministry of Commerce.

"When you go to the market, you hear from people that the Ministry of Commerce is so unsuccessful that people call it a syndicate-friendly ministry."

Alleging the involvement of a syndicate of traders to increase the price of goods, Mokabbir said that many people said that the commerce minister was involved.

"Why don't you resign after all this?" Mokabbir asked the commerce minister.

Mokabbir said that when the commerce minister says that the price of a product will decrease, the price of that product increases the next day.

He said that he knows that the minister will not give any answer.

Jatiya Party Member of Parliament Roshan Ara Mannan said that people get upset when they go to the market.

"The Ministry of Commerce is not monitoring the market properly. The commerce minister is a freedom fighter. Why can't he control the market?"