A Bihar Cabinet Minister has gone viral on social media with his comments on rising sugar prices across the country. Bihar Rural Development Department Minister Shrawan Kumar, an MLA of the Janata Dal (United) told media persons on Friday (August 21, 2026) that “everyone has diabetes these days, so sugar price rise will not matter much”, a remark that raised eyebrows. The price of sugar has gone up from ₹48-50 last week to ₹65-68 on Friday.

“Due to increasing cases of diabetic patients, people are not taking sweets. Everyone is suffering from diabetes. I don’t think the price rise of sugar will make much difference for people...they take very less sweets these days,” Mr. Kumar, who also holds the Information and Public Relations portfolio in the BJP-led NDA government told media in his Assembly constituency of Nalanda.

E20 link: official

“Sugar prices across India have surged up to ₹65-70 per kilogram due to multiple reasons: heavy diversion of sugarcane towards government’s ethanol-blending programme (E20), a tight domestic inventory buffer ahead of peak festive demand season like upcoming Rakhi festival and also less mill releases,” a Rural Development Department official, seeking anonymity, told The Hindu.

The Minister’s comment invited criticism from Opposition parties, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal. “Shrawan Kumar is a Minister and he can afford the rising price of sugar and remain insensitive to the concerns of common people...the hike in price of sugar has happened because of the wrong policy of the Central government,” said party spokesperson Ejaz Ahmad adding that the rising sugar price has “hit common people who start their day with a cup of tea”.

Independent MP from Purnea Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav slammed Mr. Kumar for his comments on the issue. “The biggest ‘diabetes’ is the government itself...when prices of cooking gas were up, many prominent leaders were raising questions but, when there is hike in sugar prices, they are talking about diabetes,” Mr. Yadav said.

To this, Bihar Agriculture Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha said: “There has been significant increase in price of sugar but, I personally feel happy when the price of my farmer’s produce increases…we’ll find the reason for hike in sugar price as we have a Minister responsible for sugar production”.

However, Sugarcane Industries Minister Sanjay Kumar Paswan told The Hindu that “Bihar has no dearth of sugar so there is no point of its price hike…we’ve written letters to the district magistrates to take strict action over hoarding of sugar for more than seven days in their respective areas.”

Published - August 21, 2026 09:45 pm IST