The Congress Friday demonstrated in a number of elements of the nation in opposition to the rising gas costs, throughout which over 150 members had been detained in Gujarat, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for allegedly violating Covid protocol and protesting with out permission. The protests, in response to a name given by the Congress management, got here on a day when one other hike — the twenty second since May 4 — pushed the gas costs throughout the nation to historic heights. The protesters pulled bullock carts, rode horse carts, staged a avenue play, pulled a automotive utilizing a rope and set one other on hearth to spotlight their considerations.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi requested as to how a lot will the BJP “loot”. “GDP crashing, Unemployment soaring, Fuel prices skyrocketing. In how many more ways is #BJPLootingIndia,” he requested on Twitter.
The protesting leaders mentioned the rising gas costs and inflation have compounded the issue folks had been already going through as a result of pandemic. “During the pandemic, Modi government collected taxes on petrol-diesel: Rs 2.74 lakh crore,” occasion chief Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted. An official occasion assertion later claimed the protests had been held throughout the nation. It mentioned that barring a couple of incidents of “police highhandedness” in UP and Gujarat the place Congress staff had been stopped and detained these protests had been peaceable.
The occasion mentioned 140 crore folks of India are struggling the “Modi-made disaster” of inflation, unemployment, financial recession and the coronavirus pandemic. Petrol is retailing above the Rs 100 per litre mark in six states and union territories — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Ladakh. In the final 13 months, the BJP authorities raised petrol and diesel charges by Rs 26.25 and Rs 24.46 respectively, the Congress alleged. “This amounts to a shocking 820 percent hike in excise duty on diesel and 258 percent increase in excise duty on petrol.” Over 30 Congress staff had been detained throughout the protests at petrol pumps in the nationwide capital with the police saying they flouted the Covid protocol. Party leaders Okay C Venugopal and Shakti Singh Gohil reached the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium petrol pump on a horse cart. “The government should stop imposing excise duty on petrol and diesel. It should come under the purview of Goods and Services Tax. We demand a complete rollback of fuel price hike,” Venugopal, who’s the Congress common secretary, mentioned.
Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and different occasion staff had been detained by police earlier than their protest. “I was not allowed to step out of the house in the morning and later brought to the Eco Garden where about 350 party workers, including MLC Dipak Singh and other-officer bearers were present,” Lallu mentioned over the telephone.
Protests had been staged throughout the state, he mentioned, including that occasion leaders had been “arrested” in Allahabad too.
More than 100 Congress workers, MLAs and leaders were detained in different parts of the BJP-ruled Gujarat too for staging the protest without a police permission, an official said.
During the protest in Punjab, some protesters set fire to an old car, saying they wanted to send a message to the Centre that common people are unable to maintain vehicles because of the high cost of fuel.
The party’s workers staged a street play in Panchkula while some rode bullock carts and horse carts as a mark of protest.
In Madhya Pradesh, during a protest at a petrol pump in New Market in Bhopal, led by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh, party workers held placards denouncing the Centre and highlighting the ‘excessive taxation’ on fuel.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot staged a dharna outside a petrol pump in Sanganer area.
“People lost jobs and labourers are not getting wages. It is very sad that lakhs of people died. Dead bodies were seen in rivers and every family struggled with coronavirus. In such a situation, the government is not taking any step to control inflation and is also increasing fuel prices,” he mentioned.
Down south, Congress staff in Kerala and Tamil Nadu gathered exterior petrol pumps to demand a roll again of the rise in costs.
Leading the protest in Tamil Nadu, state Congress president Okay S Alagiri mentioned whereas folks grappled with the second wave of COVID-19, the rise in gas costs is ready to have a cascading impact resulting in a rise in costs of important commodities too. Responding to the protests, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad mentioned, ‘International crude price is at its place. People asking us questions should get VAT reduced in the states ruled by them. This will provide relief.’
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