The Hindu : Front Page : Left protests against oil price hike

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 14, 2006

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Left protests against oil price hike

Special Correspondent

Restructure customs and excise duties; do not pass on the burden to States: Karat

PHOTO: RAMESH SHARMA

`ROLL BACK HIKE': Left leaders A.B. Bardhan (CPI), and Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) at a rally protesting against the hike in petrol and diesel prices, in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: The Left parties and regional parties such as the Telugu Desam and the Samajwadi Party joined hands on Tuesday to protest against the Central Government's decision to increase the prices of petrol and diesel. Top Left leaders courted arrest in the capital at the end of a rally.

Lending strength to the voice against the fuel price hike was a strike by truckers, which affected movement of goods in various parts the country. In Uttar Pradesh, the ruling Samajwadi Party workers stopped trains and blocked highways leading to the disruption of services.

The protests were the first such move coordinated by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in which the participants demanded that the Manmohan Singh Government roll back the price hike. The Left parties said the Government had not paid heed to the alternative proposals to reduce the impact of the rising global oil prices on the common man.

Leading from the front, the Left leaders, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary, Prakash Karat, Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, All-India Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas, its national secretary G. Devarajan and Revolutionary Socialist Party central committee member Abani Roy, along with party workers, courted arrest at the Parliament Street police station.

Mr. Karat told the rally, which included workers from the Janata Dal (Secular), the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Samajwadi Party, that the protest was against the "anti-people" policies of the United Progressive Alliance Government, which raised the prices of oil five times earlier. He disagreed with the move by Congress-ruled States to reduce sales tax and emphasised that the Centre should first restructure the excise and customs duties and make the fuel cheaper instead of passing on the burden to the States.

Mr. Bardhan cautioned the Government that if things were allowed to spin out of control, it would have to face the people's anger. The rise in diesel price would have a cascading effect on the prices of other essential commodities.

In Chennai, CPI national secretary D. Raja courted arrest along with State leaders of the Left parties picketing Central Government offices. There were reports of protests and demonstrations in various parts of Tamil Nadu.

In West Bengal, the ruling Left Front organised "dharnas in front of the offices of public sector oil companies, while in Kerala, where the Left Democratic Alliance is in Government, a dawn-to-dusk strike was called by trade unions. Normal life in the State was affected as shops and business establishments were closed.

Reports of Left party demonstrations also came in from Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.

The Telugu Desam, led by its president, N. Chandrababu Naidu, took out a cycle rally in Hyderabad. Similar protests were held in several district headquarters and the party workers courted arrest.

Uttar Pradesh, where the Samajwadi Party is in power, the party workers blocked several roads and highways including the Grand Trunk road in capital Lucknow. Party workers also squatted on the rail track.

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