Frustrated by the rise in prices of fuel in India, the Congress party launched a campaign to oppose the “continuous and unprecedented” hike in prices of fuel on 29 June 2020.
A significant number of protesters gather on the streets of many states in India to join the Congress party against the government’s decision to raise prices of fuel.
“I urge the government to open their eyes to see the indescribable pain the common citizens are going through. The unprecedented hike has put an undue extra burden on the shoulders of common men,” said K C Venugopalan, General Secretary of Congress.
“Condemning the massive increase of petrol, diesel prices and taxes on fuel by the BJP government, I initiated a cycle rally in which senior Congress leaders, workers, and citizens joined to voice against this government’s exploitation of common people,” said Congressman D K Shivakumar.
Mallikarjun Kharge says that the COVID-19 pandemic has eaten into people’s incomes and the rise in price of fuel is a tremendous burden on the people of the country. He also says that the government has “lost direction and is not bothered about welfare” of the country.
Rizwan Arshad, a Member of the Legislative Assembly says that a cycle rally from Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office to Income Tax Office was organized by the Congress government in Karnataka.
The BJP government came into power, guaranteeing low prices for fuel, but since then the government has not “given respite to people,” says Ashok Chavan, ex-president of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee.
Is the hike in price justifiable? The fuel prices are linked to the price of crude oil, that is a low price for crude oil leads to low price for fuel. Despite the fall in the price of crude oil, fuel prices are on a steady rise. As the lockdown restrictions slowly ease in the states of India, the demand for fuel is going to increase. The price of diesel scaled to a new height yet again to Rs. 11.14 per litre and for petrol, it increased by 5 paise per litre, across India in just a span of three weeks.