Superman and Spiderman are passé. “Mehngai Man” is tormenting India now, the Congress said on Tuesday.

“The Mehngai Man has set the poor man’s thali on fire — prices of wheat flour, edible oil, pulses, vegetables and fruits are skyrocketing. While the common people are in acute distress, the emperor is in ecstasy after pushing the prices of essential commodities — from tomato to petrol — beyond reach,” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said.

“The king who is called Mehngai Man is Narendra Modi,” she said.

Castigating the sycophants of the “Mehngai Man” for not telling him the truth about savagely rising prices and peaking unemployment, Shrinate said: “While the budgets of middle-class households have derailed, the poor cannot afford the basic food for sustenance. Tomato, which was selling for Rs 10-15 a kg, has shot up to Rs 150; even green chillies and lemons have gone beyond the common man’s reach.”

She added: “Pulses selling at Rs 75 a kg a few years ago are now available at Rs 170. Rice, spices, milk, tea, biscuits and oil have become costlier. There is deceit as well — packets of some items are available at the same rate but the amount has been significantly decreased. The cooking gas cylinder costing Rs 1,170 has broken the poor’s backbone. The Congress governments are helping them by making it available for Rs 500.”

Shrinate contended that the government could have substantially cut down the LPG, petrol and diesel prices as the average price of crude available in the international market is $65 a barrel, which is almost half of what the Manmohan Singh government was saddled with.

“It doesn’t make a difference to the Mehngai Man if the poor are struggling for survival because the rich are making huge profits,” she said.

The Mahila Congress staged a protest in front of the BJP office in Delhi, demanding an immediate reduction in prices. After the protesters were manhandled by police, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh tweeted: “Delhi Police under Home Minister Amit Shah does not miss any opportunity to break rules, conventions and procedures laid out in the Police manual to intimidate and harass protesters raising their voice against the Modi Government.”

Ramesh added: “The entire nation witnessed how they harassed our women champion wrestlers in May. Today they have broken all protocols by sending male officers to manhandle Mahila Congress workers protesting the intolerable rise in prices of essential commodities. They were only exercising their democratic right to agitate lawfully.”