New Delhi: The Congress has announced a Bharat Bandh on Monday to protest against the steep increase in petroleum prices, faced with criticism for fighting the government through media conferences alone.
All the Opposition parties barring the Trinamul Congress have agreed to support the bandh. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said: "Mamata Banerjee, being a chief minister, didn't want to give the bandh call, but Trinamul will participate in agitations against the rising prices. They are with the cause."
Although the Congress is in power in states such as Karnataka and Punjab, the party will enforce the bandh in these states too. Other parties like the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Nationalist Congress Party, Samajwadi Party, CPI, CPM, JMM, AUDF and the National Conference are supportive of the bandh call. Patel said the decision of the Bahujan Samaj Party was awaited.
The bandh will be enforced from 9am to 3pm instead of a full day to ensure that ordinary people are not inconvenienced beyond a point. Demonstrations will be held in every state and district headquarters.
Congress general secretary Ashok Gehlot appealed to activists, NGOs and common people to participate in the bandh on Monday to ventilate their anger and "jolt the government out of slumber".
The Congress has been extremely critical of the government but faced flak for lack of political action on the ground.
After a meeting of Congress general secretaries and state unit chiefs on Thursday, the action plan was announced in the evening. Although Gehlot mentioned several issues - agrarian distress, job crisis, economic woes and social discord - to vindicate the Opposition's charge that the Narendra Modi government had failed to deliver on its promises, the Monday agitation will be restricted to petrol prices.
Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala said: "It is a Rs 11 lakh-crore fuel loot by the Modi government. They have fleeced ordinary people to fill coffers. The finance minister says the government does not have a magic wand to bring down the prices. But the fact is that the government is levying abnormally high taxes....
"In 2014 when the UPA demitted office, the central excise on diesel was Rs 3.46 per litre and now it is Rs 15.33 per litre, an increase of 444 per cent. This is the case when the average crude oil price was $107 per barrel during the UPA and $60 per barrel now."
Arguing that the prices of everything, from milk to pulses to rail travel, had increased, Surjewala said: "We have been demanding that petroleum products be brought under the GST but the government is not interested in providing relief to the consumers. The Government of India is selling petrol and diesel in several countries at Rs 37 and Rs 34, respectively, but at Rs 80 and Rs 72 to our own citizens."
The BJP, which had called a Bharat Bandh thrice during the UPA's ten-year rule to protest against rising petroleum prices, on Thursday criticised the Opposition for its "reckless decision".
Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi alleged that the Congress always gave protection to the "inflation mafia" and was now shedding crocodile tears. He said oil prices had increased because of global reasons and would be controlled soon.
