by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, News, Politics
New Delhi : The Bharat Bandh called by the Congress and Left on Monday against rising fuel prices and tumbling rupee evoked mixed response in the country as the opposition closed its ranks against the Modi government. The BJP dubbed the protest a failure.
The day-long shutdown affected normal life in Odisha, Karnataka, Bihar, Kerala and Tripura and triggered a mixed response in Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
But it was mostly ineffective in Mamata Banerjee-ruled West Bengal.
Shutdown enforcers resorted to blocking roads and rail tracks disrupting traffic in several parts of the country. In Bihar, a critically ill two-year-old girl died on her way to a hospital in Jehanabad town apparently due to a road blockade.
Bandh supporters allegedly resorted to violence and clashed with the police in some parts areas, prompting the ruling BJP, which dubbed the shutdown a “complete failure”, of accusing the Congress of creating an “environment of fear” by violently enforcing the shutdown.
Normal life was paralysed in Odisha with vehicular movement and train services thrown out of gear as Congress workers blocked roads and trains. Hundreds of Congress activists were arrested. The Railways cancelled 12 trains while schools and colleges were closed.
Normal life was hit in Bihar with the shutdown supported by the Rashtryia Janata Dal (RJD), Left, Hindustani Awam Morcha and Jan Adhikar Party of Pappu Yadav.
Hundreds of Congress and other opposition parties leaders and workers took to the streets. Shutdown supporters blocked national and state highways, disrupted rail and road traffic for hours and stranding thousands of passengers.
Demonstrators clashed with police in several places while dozens of vehicles in Patna were damaged.
In Karnataka, normal life was affected as public transport kept off the roads across the state. Schools and colleges were closed although state and central government offices remained open. Global software firms like Infosys and Wipro functioned normally.
Life was thrown out of gear in BJP-ruled Tripura with most markets, shops and business establishments closed and private and passenger vehicles off the roads. Government offices and some banks were open but employee attendance was low.
But the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed that Bandh was a failure in Tripura.
BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh saw stray incidents of protests. The response was mixed in Jharkhand, with few shops closed and long route buses not plying.
In flood-ravaged Left-ruled Kerala, public vehicles went off the roads but private vehicles plied in many places. Shops, markets and establishments were shut.
In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, bus services were affected and many private educational institutions remained closed.
There was a mixed response in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat, where a large number of educational institutions were shut while many vehicles remain off the roads.
In Maharashtra, the shutdown elicited mixed response in urban centres but secured widespread support in the semi-urban and rural hinterland which have been severely hit by the fuel prices and its cascading effects.
In Mumbai and other cities, large numbers took to the streets, railway stations, bus depots, and other public places. But suburban trains, BEST buses, schools and colleges functioned normally. Shops and commercial establishments downed shutters in many localities.
The shutdown was mostly ineffective in West Bengal. Banks, educational institutions in Kolkata were mostly open while trading activities in the city were more or less normal.
The ruling Trinamool Congress supported the issues on which the shutdown was called but opposed the strike in line with its stated anti-strike policy.
Meanwhile, in the national capital, Congress President Rahul Gandhi led the opposition’s show of strength, staging a foot march in support of the Bharat Bandh from Rajghat to Ramlila Maidan in the heart of the city.
The rally drew leaders of the Janata Dal-Secular, Trinamool Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Nationalist Congress Party, Loktantrik Janata Dal, Rashtriya Lok Dal, All India United Democratic Front, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Aam Aadmi Party. Also in attendance were former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Manmohan Singh hit out at the BJP for “miserably” failing to control fuel prices.
Rahul Gandhi flayed Modi for his stoic silence over rising fuel prices, tumbling rupee, Rafale fighter jet deal and agrarian distress in the country.
The Left parties took out a separate rally in the national capital.
Meanwhile, the BJP said the hike in fuel prices was a “momentary difficulty” and claimed the shutdown was a complete failure.
“Bharat Bandh has been unsuccessful. We condemn the violence being used to instil fear among citizens across the country,” Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Calling the steep rise in diesel and petrol prices as Rs 11 lakh crore ‘fuel loot,’ the Congress on Thursday called for a ‘Bharat bandh’ on September 10, saying it was in touch with other parties for their support.
The party again demanded that petrol and diesel be brought under Goods and Services Tax (GST). The government had earlier rejected the demand saying most states were opposed to it.
It also demanded that there should be immediate reduction in central excise duty and excessive VAT in the states.
“Many promises were made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi before coming to power in 2014, but none were kept. When questions were raised by Congress President Rahul Gandhi about the Rafale fighter deal and Amit Shah’s son, those too went unanswered,” Congress leader Ashok Gehlot said at a press conference in the Capital.
“The mismanagement of economy has led to high prices. When fuel prices were rising during the UPA regime, taxes were reduced to take the burden off the people. But due to the mismanagement by the current government, the prices of petrol, diesel and gas cylinders have gone up steeply,” he said.
“We decided for the Bharat Bandh call today after a meeting of all party general secretaries and the state leaders,” he said, adding the party was in touch with other opposition parties for their support.
He said Congress workers would protest at petrol stations across the nation between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Later his party colleague Randeep Singh Surjewala said the “fuel loot” has resulted in the Modi government profiting Rs 11 lakh crore.
In May 2014, he said, excise duty on petrol was Rs 9 per litre while today it is Rs 19 per litre. “Similarly the excise duty on diesel in 2014 was Rs 3 and today it is around Rs 15 today.
“An RTI reply has revealed that the Modi government is selling diesel for Rs 34 per litre and petrol for Rs 37 per litre to other countries whereas in India the price is high,” he alleged.
Calling it “fuel loot,” the Congress leader said the diesel and petrol should have been brought under the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
“Rahul Gandhi had demanded to bring petrol and diesel under GST as this alone will give a relief to common people by Rs 10-15 per litre,” he said.
“The rupee is getting devalued every day. 10 per cent is the loss in value of the rupee in last one year. It is the most devalued currency in Asia, but neither the Prime Minister nor the Finance Minister is worried about it.”
On Supreme Court ruling that ‘bandhs’ are illegal, Surjewala said: “We are aware of the ruling and that is why the ‘bandh’ is between 9:00 am to 3:00 pm so that the common person is not inconvenienced.”
Congress leader Ahmed Patel said that most opposition parties have given their consent to support the bandh. “Consultations are going on with three or four parties. The SP, RJP and NCP have agreed.”
“We have not consulted BSP yet and so far as TMC is concerned, they have agreed to support the agitation,” he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
By Alix Hardy,
Mexico City: Protests entered a fourth day in Haiti on Monday as the government’s decision to back down on raising fuel prices failed to ease tensions.
Various sectors also called for Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant’s resignation over the crisis.
Protestors marched on parliament before being turned back by police while others set fire to a tax office in the Tabarre neighborhood of the capital Port-au-Prince, the Associated Press reported.
Most of the country was shut down, local media reported, after various opposition factions called for a massive two-day strike that appears to have been largely followed throughout the country. Public transport in the capital has ground to a halt and main access roads and many shops are closed.
Several embassies remain shut, including the U.S. and the German embassies as well as the French embassy’s visa service.
“The instability remains and concerns both Port-au-Prince and the province, where all national roads are blocked,” said the French embassy, urging its citizens, like other embassies, to put any trips on hold and stay put.
The Canadian embassy said Monday afternoon that it would also remained closed Tuesday.
Many airlines cancelled their flights to and from Port-au-Prince airport Saturday and Sunday. As some flights resumed Monday, videos posted on Twitter attested to the huge crowds waiting there.
On the Dominican side of the border, Defense Minister Lieutenant-General Rubén Darío Paulino Sem announced Sunday at a news conference that the border watch had been reinforced, especially in the cross-border localities of Jimaní and Elías Piña, both close to Port-au-Prince.
“Armed forces are always on alert in case someone tries to cross the border,” he said, adding that the usual Monday binational markets that take place in four cross-border cities were maintained with reinforced military personnel.
Troubles started after the government on Friday announced an increase of 38-51 percent in gasoline, diesel fuel and kerosene prices starting Sunday in the context of new landmark rules orchestrated by the International Monetary Fund and Haiti to boost the government’s revenue. Numerous protests erupted with burning tire barricades set up on the main roads and at least three people were killed and many more injured in the riots, local media reported. The riots led to lootings and the burning of shops and private homes.
On Saturday, Lafontant backed down and suspended the price hikes until further notice, and President Jovenel Moise made a televised address to the nation where he asked the people to “stay calm and go home”, arguing that the authorities around him had “miscommunicated”.
Following the president’s address and the lack of impact on the situation, calls emerged for Lafontant to step down.
The Private Sector Economic Forum released a note Monday requesting that Lafontant and his government resign.
“The current situation is a result of the lack of leadership from the highest authorities of the Haitian state including the president, prime minister and his government, who failed to plan any necessary security measures to support the drastic price adjustment announcement,” it said.
Haitian Protestant Federation leader Sylvain Exantus also called for change.
“Besides the leadership problem, there is a lack of confidence of the people in the government,” he said in a press release.
A third of Haiti’s population considers itself Protestant.
Congressman Jerry Tardieu of Pétion-Ville district south of Port-au-Prince also called for the president to resign.
“This episode adds a negative touch to an already controversial action,” he said Saturday in a press release.
On Monday, Lafontant said he had called a special meeting with his government to “assess the situation and take the appropriate decisions” in light of the “tense atmosphere in Haiti”.
Senate President Joseph Lambert, who had earlier indicated his disagreement with the government’s decision to raise fuel prices, also announced that he had called a meeting between the executive, legislative and judicial powers Monday afternoon “to find a way out of this crisis”.
—AA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, News, Politics
Panaji : The government is worried about the rising fuel prices, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said here on Sunday.
“Along with the people, even we are worried when the price of petrol, diesel, LPG, increases. When our party was in the opposition, we had opposed any hike in petroleum because the price of the crude oil was very low in the world market.
“As far as the current hike is concerned, the Petroleum Minister has clearly said we are working in that direction (to ease it) and that it is a worry,” he said in response to a question from the media here.
Naqvi was in Goa as part of the ruling BJP’s ‘Transforming India’ campaign under which senior leaders have fanned out across India to amplify the achievements of four years of the Modi government.
—IANS
