With Bicycles & Bullock Carts, Congress Launches Nationwide Protest Against Rising Fuel…

The former Congress party chief took to Twitter to show his resentment and stated, “Come and join #SpeakUpAgainstFuelHike campaign.” This came after the state-run oil marketing companies raised the prices of petrol and diesel on Monday, a day after there was no hike in rates that were increasing continuously for three weeks.

Diesel price on Monday scaled a new high after prices were hiked for the 22nd time in just over three weeks, taking the cumulative increase to Rs 11.14 per litre. Petrol price was increased by 5 paise per litre and diesel 13 paise a litre across the country, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

While Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah protested by riding a bicycle from his residence to reach Minsk Square, members of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee were detained by police while demonstrating near the IP College. In Ahmadabad too, police detained protesting Congress workers.

In Maharashtra, Congress leaders including State Minister Balasaheb Thorat staged a protest in Pune against the increase in fuel prices.

In Patna, Congress workers rode bicycles, bullock cart and horse cart as a mark of protest against the increase in fuel prices.

The Odisha unit of the Congress will stage demonstrations across the state on Monday and Tuesday to protest the “unprecedented” increase in prices of petrol and diesel, a senior party leader said. Legislator Suresh Kumar Routray said party workers will stage demonstrations in front of central government offices in Bhubaneswar during the day.

Rahul Gandhi also shared a video wherein a person could be heard saying that the government is “rubbing salt on the wounds of people” by increasing the prices at a time when people are either unemployed or not receiving salaries.

“Amid coronavirus pandemic and tensions with China, the Centre has left the common man to fend for themselves. It is looting the country by increasing the price of petrol and diesel from the past 21 days. The poor and middle class people are helpless,” the video narrated.

The video, shared by Rahul Gandhi, went on to urge the people to raise their voice against the hike, so that it lands on the “deaf ears of the government”. The narrator asked countrymen to share the video of disgruntled people with the #SpeakUpAgainstFuelHike hashtag on their social media handle from 10 a.m. onwards on Monday.

At the outset, the Congress party has also decided to launch a five-day protest, starting June 30, against fuel price hike in each block of the country. The party would also hold protests, between 11 a.m. and 12 noon on Monday in front of the Central government offices against the fuel price hike, said senior Congress leader K.C. Venugopal on Sunday.

(With inputs from IANS)