At least 20 Opposition parties have extended its support to the Congress-led Bharat Bandh call on Monday, but surprisingly the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has decided to skip the call.
Unfazed by the TMC stand, the Congress announced that in addition to political parties, it has also received support from a number of chambers of commerce and traders’ associations.
Petrol and diesel prices set new records on Sunday. According to the price notification issued by State fuel retailers, petrol price was raised by 12 paise a litre and diesel by 10 paise per litre on Sunday. Holding the BJP Government responsible for the rise in petrol and diesel prices, the Congress alleged the Government kept on raising excise duty on fuel even as international crude oil prices have come down. The party demanded from the Centre that petrol and diesel should be brought under GST, by which oil prices could drop by about Rs 15 to Rs 18.
Interestingly, the Samajwadi Party said it would call a demonstration protest across Uttar Pradesh to protest against the Centre over range of issues which include corruption, farmers and students’ issues and also the price hike. This way without accepting the leadership of the Congress, the SP has decided to back the call in its own way.
On the other hand, obviously peeved at Congress’s growing camaraderie with CPI(M), the TMC said it is against a strike and would take all measures to ensure that public services remained functional in West Bengal during the Bharat Bandh.
The Congress and the NCP together had even approached NDA partner Shiv Sena to support the Bharat Bandh, but the NDA ally did not oblige. However, another regional outfit, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) decided to support the Opposition call for Bharat Bandh on Monday against rising fuel prices.
“We will actively participate in tomorrow’s bandh. We have appealed to shopkeepers to keep shops and establishments closed. We won’t resort to violence, but we will ask people to support the bandh,” the party said in a statement.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray acknowledged that fuel prices are linked to international markets, but said Central and State taxes were adding to the common man’s burden.
The Congress on its part has appealed to party workers to make the bandh violence-free. “We are Mahatma Gandhi’s party and we should not associate ourselves with any violence,” Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken said at a media briefing. “Between 2014 and now, excise duty on petrol has risen by 211.7 per cent and 433 per cent on diesel.
The excise duty on petrol was Rs 9.2 per litre in 2014 and it has gone up to Rs 19.48 per litre. Similarly, the excise duty on diesel was Rs 3.46 per litre and today it stands at Rs 15.33 per litre,” Maken said.
Hitting out at the BJP for attacking the Congress with ‘make in India, breaking India’ barb, Maken alleged the Government has stalled the Make in India initiative as 109 Rafale jets could have been manufactured at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, a PSU. He also said the Government has not yielded to the Opposition’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal.
